12 thoughts on “Stinson Beach”

  1. I think its just a completely forgettable snap, but I am pretty sure I am constantly in the wrong meeting around here. And thats ok.
    So heres a thing; Tomoro I go away for a holiday at our bungalow on the coast. All the family are going to be there as we pretty much believe its the last time our mother will be well enough to go. all my brothers, the nephews and grandkids, sisters in law, some cousins, the whole enchilada…..and as a photographer, who just today when I should be packing, have done two seperate shoots, one for a record label and one on video for an artist doing a book reading at my studio…….WILL NOT MAKE A SINGLE FRAME OF THE ENTIRE HOLIDAY. No interest whatsoever. I will instead Experience the holiday, and enjoy the moments, and love and cherish the time with my mother and family. Photographs cannot even appproach touching that. And that is why , I think, I always find ‘snapshots’ banal and trite.especially ones of someone elses life..I mean c’mon.

    PS isnt there an Anne jester on the burn team???? I do remember some emails with that name on them no?

  2. Some may remember the dreaded day that Uncle Joe gets out his projector and holiday snaps, the tedium………….. well for all the informative and fun aspects of instagram …………… instagram can replicate this situation, bigger better and its ability to prolong the agony of happy snap world,,,,,,,Joe catches fish , Joe cleans fish,,,,, ahh well! Joe didn’t catch a fish what about a bar shot or a cat?

  3. John, couldn’t disagree with you more.

    Actually, most the commercial stuff we do is completely forget-able, and of no real importance.

    Your family happy snaps may be the only photographs that are important. Not making a single frame during your holiday will not help you “experience” the holiday. Making photographs just might. It’s about being present, and trying to recognize how special each moment is, and being be open to the gifts that present themselves.

    Take your camera. Make happy snaps. Give some serious thought about who your mother is, what she means to you, and make the definitive portrait of her, as if you knew it would be the last time you would ever see her.

    Great photo Anna. Keep ’em coming.

  4. Just one more thing John. I’m a portrait photographer, I cannot tell you how many “I wish I had” stories I hear. This sounds like it might be the last time your whole family is in one place at one time. Make a group photograph, or hire someone to do it. Even if you are not glad you did it, other members of your family will be.

  5. I agree with Gordon, family pictures are the most important! Maybe not for the world to see, but this all depends on the skill of the photographer, if s/he manages to make them interesting enough so they can draw in people who don’t know that SPECIFIC family, but give the sense of “family” in a broader way. Family are roots, for the better or worse.

    Working right now on a project on only family pictures for a friend, along with stories and tales, I see how much fun this can be, and how rewarding it is, both for them, the reconstruction of a family tree, and for me, knowing what it means to them. One piece of history, put together with many nany other pieces makes it “our” history.

    But that’s just my opinion..

  6. eva/gordon. clearly for you, and probably most people, that is true. not for me. Commercial work aside (of which I do very little anyway) I only take pictures of things that I want to see as a picture, things that I find visually interesting. There is no one in my family that I find visually interesting and so have no reason to make photographs of them. trust me that everyone else in the family has some kind of camera or camera phone and video etc and they are taking pictures of ‘stuff’ all the time.

  7. John, only making photographs of “visually interesting” people or situations is too easy, and ultimately boring. You need to dig a lot deeper to make interesting photographs of ordinary people and every-day situations.
    I’d be a lot more impressed by a moving photograph of your mother, than another “character” portrait.

    Yesterday, I photographed a retired couple with their cherished dog. The woman greeted me when I arrived, and said “I just need to warn you, my husband has Alzheimer’s, this will be the last photograph we have taken together.” I got some wonderful photographs. The best moment was when I asked him to give her a little squeeze. He turned toward her, leaned in, and gently put his head on hers and closed his eyes. She has not seen this portrait yet, but I know it will bring tears to her eyes.

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