more peace in chaos

This image is another example of what felt to me like peacefulness rising up from the smoldering ashes of chaos. Part of a large family reunion shoot with babies and young children, moms with lofty expectations of visual perfection, and dads who’d rather have been about anywhere else on a Sunday morning than gathered together for portraits. Oh, and add to that one very vocal and rambunctious puppy with flailing paws the size of Idaho. It was chaotic alright.

These types of shoots are always challenging for a “keep it personal, make it intimate” kind of photographer such as I am. Too much visual stimuli overwhelms my senses (my main motivation for loving black and white as I do), and I think renders me temporarily ditsy as well. I find it difficult to concentrate and I’m not altogether comfortable in orchestrating people around as is necessary for group shoots.

I reward myself for my enduring the large group photos as I must by breaking them down and photographing smaller groups and singles…..whether or not the client has requested this. It’s still difficult for both myself and those I’m photographing to reach the place of forgetting about all the other eyes upon us, but when we do……..when we’ve managed to shut out the chaos of the externals surrounding us and go inward…….well, it almost feels to me like a prayer. So very good.

~Cynthia

I’m getting frustrated in my efforts at scanning images for my journal here, this one came out especially funky looking and does not reflect the final print at all. Do digital photographers not experience these types of hassles?!? Hmmm.