up next, for your viewing pleasure...

i am evidently going to be posting about my portrait project for the next year or so, even though i finished taking the photos on may 8th... and that is o.k. i guess that i have more enticing items on my plate most days, though this blog sure fancies my palate. i spread my creative juices over a variety of projects (including raising my children,) so, the available juice to put into this blog is sometimes not even a sip's worth, and i want it to be something worth drinking... therefore, it gets set aside until enough "extra" creativity remains in the tank to pour into this. and, i don't want this to end up being some type of afterthought or dumping ground for runoff, so... it gets tricky. but not impossible. this gentleman was quite the gentleman for his photo shoot. i was with my oldest daughter, on my way to pick my youngest, when i spied a lively group of co-workers in front of their building on a break... i turned around quickly to catch them before they separated and got back to work. as i have mentioned before, it is common for one person to get called out when i ask a group if i can take a portrait of one of them... and often, everyone in the group agrees on who the lucky one should be. this subject was as willing to do it as his buddies were to nominate him, and from there everything went just as Planned, and here are the Perfect results. enjoy.

play is optional

driving down a popular road in nashville, in the middle of an open field, i spotted this bright blue jacketed, blonde haired young girl prancing around like the free people we have the choice to be. fearing that going for her portrait would be a commitment to more time than the average portrait stop, i beat that fear back and chased her down for the project's sake. i got out of my car, and i immediately noticed that i know this girl... the daughter of two friends of mine. she was in the throes of playing with her sister in this field, and she responded to my approach with a bit of timidity and indifference. i was dressed in the all whites of a house painter, and i was not an expected participant in her frolicking games. luckily, her mom was willing to allow me to interject my objectives into the middle of playtime. over the course of the next fifteen minutes or so, i naturally became part of the playing, so much so, that even as i was preparing to leave, she was hanging on me like i was playground equipment that had decided to depart; she was not done playing with this set of monkey bars. it is good to feel wanted.

he's got the beat.

i caught this guy unsuspecting as he was unloading his drumset onto the street for an evening sidewalk performance... he was very hesitant about going along with this project, probably because he was in the middle of doing something and because who the hell was i to be taking his picture. anyways, he, like so many that have come before him, signed on to participate, and i think that he did a remarkable job. sometimes, the subject and the setting simply harmonize, and this is one of those times. someday, to explore the deeper depths of people such as this, i would love to shoot video portraits... someday.