Nifty Photo Work
Saturday, we went to a 20th anniversary/family reunion of the Marklin family. They are a very interesting group, high achievers, all of them. There are seven sons scattered all over the country. My job was to be a roving photographer, taking candid and semi-setup portraits of family and friends. Two of the brothers were photographers, but they wanted someone else, without social obligations to be the 'official' photographer.
Martin, the youngest son has a business making candles for churches. Doesn't sound like much of a challenge, but the production process is surprisingly complex. These aren't simple tapered, pulled from a pot of hot wax candles. These are BIG units, some as much as 12 inches diameter and eight feet long, decorated with vibrant colors recessed into the body of the candle. Really works of art with a lot of hand work involved. www.marklincandle.com if anyone is interested.
The photography went very well, with about 600+ taken, edited down to 300+ keepers. I cruised around taking shots of adults and children fishing from the dock on the Contoocook River, playing on the new swings, taking swings at the pitching machine, boche ball, model rockets, the pig roast and lots of other stuff going on.
It's interesting how, with the proper approach, people can be handled as photographic subjects. I can come up to anyone, smile, move them around, shove a camera in their face, work with their kids, do most anything as long as I have a positive attitude, one of competence and efficiency. I'm doing a job, there is no way that most people would interfere or question my motives. There have only been a couple of time when someone absolutely didn't want to be photographed. In that case, I just move on and respect their wishes.
As dusk came on, the kids were given the pleasure of playing with fire and lighting the several hundred candles lining the property, in the woods, along the river and lining the tents. It was a very impressive display of creative lighting. Nice thing about the 51% bees wax candles is that they have no scent. I can't stand the strong smells that most candles seem to emit.
I took some long exposures and some panorama sweeps that can be stitched together later.
I've finished the 12 CDs they want, printing info on the printable CD, designed and printed an insert for the plastic case and have them ready to deliver. It's quite a change to be paid for this work. Usually I do this as a volunteer for our town celebrations. I put three copies in the library, one in the historical society and scatter a few others out to friends.
Martin, the youngest son has a business making candles for churches. Doesn't sound like much of a challenge, but the production process is surprisingly complex. These aren't simple tapered, pulled from a pot of hot wax candles. These are BIG units, some as much as 12 inches diameter and eight feet long, decorated with vibrant colors recessed into the body of the candle. Really works of art with a lot of hand work involved. www.marklincandle.com if anyone is interested.
The photography went very well, with about 600+ taken, edited down to 300+ keepers. I cruised around taking shots of adults and children fishing from the dock on the Contoocook River, playing on the new swings, taking swings at the pitching machine, boche ball, model rockets, the pig roast and lots of other stuff going on.
It's interesting how, with the proper approach, people can be handled as photographic subjects. I can come up to anyone, smile, move them around, shove a camera in their face, work with their kids, do most anything as long as I have a positive attitude, one of competence and efficiency. I'm doing a job, there is no way that most people would interfere or question my motives. There have only been a couple of time when someone absolutely didn't want to be photographed. In that case, I just move on and respect their wishes.
As dusk came on, the kids were given the pleasure of playing with fire and lighting the several hundred candles lining the property, in the woods, along the river and lining the tents. It was a very impressive display of creative lighting. Nice thing about the 51% bees wax candles is that they have no scent. I can't stand the strong smells that most candles seem to emit.
I took some long exposures and some panorama sweeps that can be stitched together later.
I've finished the 12 CDs they want, printing info on the printable CD, designed and printed an insert for the plastic case and have them ready to deliver. It's quite a change to be paid for this work. Usually I do this as a volunteer for our town celebrations. I put three copies in the library, one in the historical society and scatter a few others out to friends.