Another journal post in black and white! Can't help it. There will be color at some point. I do work in the world of color for my clients (and share their photos in black & white if they want them) but to me the magic of photography is amplified in black and white. This is true for photography that is normally assosicated with color, such as the environmental family photoshoot. No posing, just catching people and relationships interact. People tend to prefer their family photography in color, but given the nature of the subjects, it lends itself to black and white precisely because it draws out that essence from the deep without distraction.
It's a real workout staying ahead of the children while remaining present and still enough capture a glance, a mood change, a pause. Sometimes they play to the camera, mostly they push it aside to let in whatever their game of worlds is running with them at that time. They're not in Manila being photographed for their parent's sense of telling their story, of vanishing time, they're in another realm, in a parallel time. They are not growing up too fast, they are forever in the moment.
Probably my all time personal favorite single portrait from a family session. Taken in New Delhi, India.
Diverse personalities from a recent session in Manila. A dedicated post will come in the near future.
This is not a perfect shot, but I love the story.
It's not all about the kids! Well, it mostly is, but it needn't be.
Life rarely moves slower than a canter and most often at a gallop. Our kids grow up while we are looking away, and work would have us as passing clouds in each other's skies. Capturing a moment of the intertwining journey of a family seems important. We all know it's not all roses, but it is deep: families are that mix of just about everything we have to deal with: love, loss, friendship, trust, betrayal, hierarchy, faith, dreams, security, time, hope.
Perhaps that's why we can't truly ever figure our family out, not perfectly. There are so many contstantly evolving and moving parts, that the combinations of outcomes are infinitesimal. I guess that's what I'm looking for when I'm being that family photographer - the essence, the contradictions, the depth. To tell the story of how those parts are working together at that moment in their journey.
If you're interested in recording a chapter of your family's journey, drop us a line at Mark Cowlin Pictures. We have lots of options here in Manila, not just family photography, but little videos, slideshows, biographys. Hope to see you soon.
A quote from the photographer Art Shay sums it up: "...a photograph is the biography of the moment." Yes, it is.