Stealing Beauty

I was reading an article recently about why people get involved with photography. In many cases, young men get involved to meet girls. For myself, it was the gadgetry and art of it and, okay, later it was meeting girls. I put serious photography down for many years due to monetary constraints and a long relationship with video cameras. I still like video, but it takes sooo long to edit it, that I don’t spend as much time as I would like. Still photography is much more immediate and you can do some pretty amazing things with the new tools, no darkroom needed. (Just Adobe Light-room)

In order to improve myself, I joined a couple of local photography groups to get myself out shooting and hopefully learn a few things. Utah Photowalking is one, the other is Utah Strobist. So, what is a Strobist? I wondered that as well, but it is a person who shoots with a strobe light. Photography is all about shadows and light and a strobe is to a photographer what a lightsaber is to a Jedi. If you can control the light and manage it, you can create amazing images.

On Tuesday, we had a meeting in downtown Salt Lake. It was my first meeting, but I knew many of the people from the Photowalking group. I brought along my niece as a model. I thought it would be fun to shoot her skating on the outdoor rink nearby. We got to the site and I talked to a few of the people there and asked if any were interested in taking pictures of her. A few were interested and we went over to the rink. One of my photo friends, Ann, was very helpful. I am not that great with the strobes yet, but she is quite accomplished. She hauled out her remote triggers and two strobes, hooked them up to my camera and even held them while I shot. We played with light for about an hour, while Caitlin jumped, spun, glided and twirled, always with a smile in spite of the cold. It was pretty chilly, too. She was a real trooper.

The area around the rink was lit with Christmas lights, which made for intriguing backgrounds. By this time, several others had come by and were shooting. Two in particular, Harley and Diane joined us and helped with the lighting. Harley taught me a cool trick with the zoom and flash. I have always wanted to know how to do this kind of picture.

Photographers steal beauty and store it in their little black boxes. There is a magic in it, to be sure, but only if it’s shared. I have stolen beauty from many, including my wife, my daughter and granddaughter. To add another beauty to my black box and then share it with her and her family, well that’s the sweetest magic of all.