Baby bump and a muddy pup
What was supposed to be a Saturday filled with chores, I had a great shoot with my lovely wife showing off the bump and our labor of love.
Just another lazy Saturday...or so I thought. The grass needed to be mowed, the hedges trimmed, some weeds needed a good whacking, and our Jumangi-like backyard required some much needed attention. Saturday originally was going to be a day photographing with Jeff Schultz, an amazing professional photographer out of the Anchorage area. He owned and operated Alaska Stock Photography before his latest venture Alaska Photo Treks, a company providing instruction and opportunity to photograph some of Alaska's most beautiful places. Weather changed, however, delaying the trip to Sunday and also the blog post to go with it.
So as the day began to break on Saturday, I stood barefoot on my front deck with coffee in hand and staring blankly at the front lawn. Umbro, with his bushy tail in full alpha-mode, was running around lifting his leg to the hedges, to the birch trees, to the strawberry bushes, to anything that he could think of. I felt the cold wood beneath my feet, the warm coffee sliding down my throat. Morning was happening whether I wanted it to or not. A magpie started yapping across the street and the blank stare snapped. The cerebral lists started to take shape and the Saturday of respite became apparent and slightly overwhelming.
The list: baby, Mel, Umbro, family, house, full time job, photography career—in that order with various sub-lists and rankings associated with them. This list is longer than any grocery list will ever be. Those lists always end up being left in the car anyway, and I'm too lazy to go back and retrieve it. Life's grocery list, however, is something that you can't always write down anyway, and certainly not something you can leave in the car.
The magpie yapped again, yapping me back to reality. The thought of photography escaping from my life has pervaded my thoughts as of late. It scares me. It is a fear that as a father to be I am ashamed of because I should be focusing on our family and what's to come—but it's there and the itch to push the shutter button is hard to ignore.
But you know, life has a way of changing perspective as quickly as the first cup of coffee. Mel came down the stairs, opened the screen door and greeted me on the porch. She wrapped her arms around me and we both watched Umbro clamor about. Mind you watching Umbro wasn't the most romantic thing, a dog marking his territory, but nonetheless I felt her comfort. She turned and said, "Let's go photograph this bump!"
Those words triggered what so many Alaskans do when the weather cooperates. Carpe Diem! Mel got ready, I gathered my equipment, and Umbro waited patiently for his romp at the Eagle River Nature Center.
With my portrait work lately, I have been using my 85mm f1.2 prime lens more frequently. It is a lens that for many years I shied away from because focusing with this lens can be a challenge when using such a shallow depth of field. But if you nail the focus, the results can be amazing. The separation between background and subject creates a very stunning effect, even more dramatic than shooting with a f2.8 lens like my 70-200. So despite bringing all of my equipment, including a strobe array, I opted to use natural light and work this prime lens to my advantage (Plus, I forgot a key screw mount to the light stand so I couldn't use the strobes anyway...but don't tell anyone.). The sky was slightly overcast allowing for some nice neutral lighting. I quickly threw on a neutral density filter to stop down the light a little further as Alaska can be a tad bright during 2pm, even with neutral lighting.
I knew the location pretty well because I had the opportunity to photograph two friends of mine when they were pregnant too. The only difference this time was that my wife was the subject and we brought along our furry companion. Eagle River Nature Center has a leash policy around their trails as many people frequent this area during the summer. Not to say that Melodie and I are rogues looking to break the rules, but Umbro stays pretty close to us when we tramp about the wilderness. The leash came off and I let Umbro run around through the tall grass. Because I was concentrating on Mel, her positioning, the wind picking up her hair from time to time, I ignored our rambunctious rascal jumping and swimming in the creek next to Mel.
The results were pretty spectacular...and colorful. Umbro turned from a black and white dog to only a black dog. Melodie looked beautiful with her dress contrasting the greens of the Alaskan summer. The addition of her solid blue shawl separated her from the background even further making her really "pop" in the images. Solid colors have a tendency to do that, and with a woman who is pregnant, it can be a very flattering touch to add a shawl around their shoulders.
Umbro swam to the other side of the creek and shook off the mud that collected on his fur. A few visitors noted our dog running around and we both heard laughter...except for one voice. A National Park Service person came up to us and wasn't the happiest with us. Luckily we were done with the shoot,but she made sure that we left the spot...this time with our ferocious (haha) beast leashed as we returned back to the car.
So carpe diem! A mantra to live by, especially when weather is your worst adversary.