Bill's Blog

AN ENTIRE SEASON OF EASTER PORTRAITS

Easter in the South is uniquely Southern.  When this boy, raised in Arkansas, thinks about Easter-time . . .

Transition.  It’s when everything comes back to life.  Here in Arkansas, Winter is an unwelcome guest.  Winter pushes aside the grandeur of Autumn, with her brilliant colors and crisp temperature.  No more Friday Night Lights.  No more evenings of hot chocolate, under a blanket, tracing the line of Orion’s belt.  Winter intrudes.  He interupts.  In Arkansas, He doesn’t usually grant the childhood wonder of snow, just the anger of cold, and ice.  [But how about the snow this year?!]  The ground grows hard, and ghastly brown, and the sky paints morbid gray.  Winter staves off the comfort of Springtime.  But then:

Defiant daffodils emerge, announcing the advent of Spring.  Color in the ground and trees first whisper–then shout!–the returning reign of Springtime!  We shake off the frigid coats of Winter, embrace the sunshine of Spring.  Our kids, with eager hearts, return outside.  We lay our sleeping seeds in our gardens, and wait for life.

We prepare our kids, don our “Easter clothes” [the finest of the year], and gather to worship the Life alive again.  What once was dead, is now alive!  It’s Easter.

By Easter, we’ve returned to the life of Springtime.  We’ve all recovered from the joy–and exhaustion–of Christmastime.  Our kids are dressed in the finest clothes of the year.  Is there a better time for portraits?

Maybe you’ve avoided Easter portraits because you don’t want to decorate you home with something “thematic.”  Just so you know–even when we photograph kids with bunnies, or ducks, we always begin the session with just your kids.  In fact, we’re letting the critters rest for a year.  That’s right–no animals this year.

In the past, we’ve always scheduled a few days for our “Easter Special.”  This year is quite different:  We’re scheduling a Season of Easter! We’re hosting 3 events, all unique, unlike anything we’ve ever done.  Consider your home decor, then decide which event would best provide a new showpiece.

OLD-WORLD CLASSIC
CHENAL DOWNS, Friday & Saturday, April 1 & 2.
*truly classic portraiture. Indoors, hyper-controlled lighting and posing.  Textured brown velvet background, elegant furniture pieces, classic formal.  Please, only dressy clothes for this scene.  Think about the trendy “snapshotty” look of contemporary photo shooters–this event is COMPLETELY the opposite!  Full Sessions and Quick Pics.

EASTER KIDS
SPRINGTIME SPLENDOR OUTDOORS, Friday-Sunday, April 15-17th.
*captivating outdoor images, really casual “feel,” with casual or formal Easter clothes.    Several “staged-spontaneous” scenes for kids.  Another great session for Mom & Dad to join in.  Full Sessions and Quick Pics.

FAMILY FURNITURE IN THE FIELD
OUTDOORS NEAR LITTLE ROCK, Thursday-Saturday, April 21-23rd.
*antique furniture meets the backdrop of Springtime.  Super-formal or really casual clothes will look super.  We’ll pull out the antique furniture pieces at an outdoor location.  Full Sessions and Quick Pics.

furniture in the field

JR. HIGH STUDENTS FINALLY SPARED THE HUMILIATION OF BABY PHOTOS!

No Jr. High kid wants to see his/her baby photos.  Luckily, those days of humiliation will soon be over.  The tragedy, Mom, is that you won’t see your baby’s photos when he/she gets to Jr. High, either.

Let me ask you 2 quick questions–just give me  decent guesses at your answers:
1.  How many photographs do you have on your computer?

Sheree and I have 2 desktops, 4 laptops, and 4 external hard drives.
2.  How many photographs do you think WE have on our computers?

Do you have your guess in mind?  Let me give you a hint–both numbers are the same.

You have NO photographs on your computer.  None.  Nada.  Zilch.  Neither do I.  The only exception is if you have photos taped to the monitor.

Formerly, cameras created negatives.  Now that we’re in the digital age, cameras create digital images.  If there is no actual printer involved in your photography, you do not have photographs.  You have images.  So what’s the big deal?

When I was in college, I wrote a paper about a Civil War surgeon [early 1860’s].  I studied the letters that he sent home during the war.  The letters he wrote with his own hand, I actually held in my hands!

Yet I don’t have the Atari that my 5th-grade fingers wore out.  Sadly, I’m not writing on my old Commodore 64. Just as my parents abandoned the coveted 8 track player, I likewise ditched my cassette tapes.  Last I recall, my record player expired with elementary school.  [Ironically, I DO own a phonograph that still works.]

Here is the great deception of the digital age:  “If you have the images on your computer, you’ll have them forever.”

Yeah.  Right.

I hate to remind you, but your computer has never been closer to dying, or crashing, or becoming obsolete.  Your images will go with it.  But you’re smarter than that, and you have your photos backed up, right?  I’ve had 3 hard drives go on to the great Silicone Heap in the Sky.  Where are those images now?  Just a very few weak memories, fading more as I get older.

There’s another discussion about the future viability of printing from a CD, or even negatives, but that’s another issue.  For now, remember this:

Print your images!  The paper will last.  Your computer won’t.

For heaven’s sake:  Your baby’s total humiliation on the first date hangs in the balance!  That’s not something you want to miss.

Musicians must be so much dumber than photographers.

If you ask me, it’s about time that some new, contemporary Musicians changed everything.  Why not?  Now everyone has access to a guitar, or a keyboard, or drums, or a hecklephone.  We, the listening public, deserve something fresh.  Personally, I’m weary of the drivel that has been forced upon us.

I’m so very tired of the music I hear–it’s all the same cords, neatly arranged, more notes, then transition into deliberate composition.  So I’ve decided to take matters into my own hands.  Mr. Bill is now performing music.

No, I’ve never studied music [not even General Music in High School].  No, I can’t read music.  No, I can’t find “middle C” on a piano, nor can I strum a G-chord.  Who cares?  I’m convinced that the public wants something unique.  I’m breaking all the rules, grabbing any instrument they sell at Best Buy, and declaring myself a Professional Musician.  No practice, no training, no mentor for me!  Musicians who practice are fools.  The public wants something contemporary!

[I’m thinking about the trumpet, or French Horn, or some other wind instrument . . . I’ll create music that blows.    ]

I’ve seen the trend happen in the Photography industry–haven’t you?  I see it on countless websites or Facebook pages.  Someone with a camera telling us how they hate the “posey/posed” look of those “other Photographers.”  They want “natural” photos, and they specialize in “natural light photos.”  [Insert giggle here.]  Let me translate those phrases:

“I don’t know how to pose a family.  While your child runs like an escaped inmate, on fire, covered with fire ants, I chase him/her with my camera.  I like ‘natural light’ since I don’t own/understand studio lights.”  [Tragically, they normally don’t understand natural light, either.]

Since the complete takeover of the digital revolution, this is the trend in portrait photography.

Let me tell you a dirty secret that might forever change your perception of me, and Beyond Photography:

If you have seen one of my portraits, I’ll wager $9,831 that I posed it.  If it looks totally “natural” or “in the moment,” I’ll bet that I made that moment “accidentally” happen.  Granted–1 out of 500 times, I grabbed the shot as it unfurled without me.  The other 499 times, I expected it–because I planned it.  Please don’t hate me:

I LOVE the “posed look.”

Think about the word “pose.”  Mr. Webster tells me that it is “to assume or cause to assume a posture, usually for artistic purposes.”   Suddenly that doesn’t sound so terrible.

Musicians:  what does the word “posed” sound like to you?  There’s another word you folks use–Composition.  Now that I think about it . . . that’s one of the first words my High School Art teacher taught me.  Hmmmm.  I wonder if Mozart, or DaVinci, or Ansel Adams, would post on his blog, “I hate the posey-posey composition that others do”?

I love some new work being done, and it influences me, but I don’t want to be trendy.  As I grow in my craft, I strive more to be a “classic Photographer.”  For me, the word “classic” translates to “good.”   Before Jesus walked the Earth, the ancient Greeks established the Western “rules” for classic composition–especially posing people!

I study the work of some pretty amazing Photographers.  The work that makes me think, “Holy Smokes!!!” is new, but actually . . . it’s old.

Great composition never goes out of style, because it IS style.

Again, Mr. Webster mentions that “composition” is “arrangement of elements in artistic form.”   Suddenly I’d LOVE to be described as “posey.”

[Ironically, Webster reader, skip past the word “composition.”  2 words later you’ll find the word “compost.”]

Am I anything like Mozart or DaVinci?  &*$! no!  Why don’t I like the “natural” look that most folks talk about?  Frankly–after almost 10 years of business, practice, and thousands of dollars of schooling, I’m not good enough to do it.

Personally, I believe that anyone diligent in their craft goes from Crap, to Compose, to Spontaneous Composition.  I’m in the “Compose” stage.  Maybe, in 30 years, I’ll graduate to the next level.  What do I mean?  You’ll have to tune in later for more explanation.

I’m mr. bill, and I approve this message.

[And look for the Springtime calendar on the website within the next 4.2 days.]

Visiting the local Barnes & Noble last year, I noticed a disturbing trend . . . .

romance is dead

I’ve attached an artwork–that will forever live in my hope chest–that my middle child, the Big H, created last year.

Frankly, I’d be lying if I told you that I wasn’t totally proud of this.  I love that kid.

dyslexia