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Share the love


Early May of this year my wife and I went with Pat Cook's group, Beyond the Photo with HDR, to Mystic Seaport in Mystic, CT. It was a great event with so many photo opportunities. Since the seaport is considered a living museum there were plenty of things to do and places to visit.

Along the waterfront there are a variety of shops visitors can explore. Many of them with a knowledgeable tradesman who will give you a little history lesson or demonstration of the crafts and trades from the late 1800's. I was so enthralled by many of these demonstrations that I spent more time listening to these folks rather than take pictures.

In particular there was the cooper's barn. A cooper is a tradesman who builds and maintains wooden barrels and casks. On this particular day there was a gentleman by the name of Sam giving a demonstration to a group of eager kids. It was fun watching eight and ten year old kids banging away at the metal bandings of a barrel under Sam's supervision.

As I was watching I had set up my camera on a tripod off to one side of the workshop hoping to get some nice shots of all the barrels and tools on display. Did I mention that the seaport is very accommodating to photographers? So long as you do not sell them commercially, that is. Strict rules on that, but that's a different story.


As I was waiting for the crowd to diminish I noticed how the light coming into the workshop fell on Sam leaving the background about a stop darker. I couldn't ask for a better situation. I turned my camera on Sam, composed the scene, set my values and waited. Once the room was relatively free of visitors I asked Sam if I could please take a photo of him holding his tools in front of the barrels. He politely complied. I took one exposure, seen here on the left.

I then asked him for his email address promising him a copy of the image. He apologized he didn't have an email but gave me his home address. A week later an 8x10 print was in the mail.

The card you see above is a warmly written thank you card from Sam and his wife thanking me for the "beautiful photo of my husband Sam." She goes on to say that, "our children and I love it and will treasure it. How nice of you to send it."

I took two shots of him that day, one to get my lighting and exposure and one of him posing. In all I spent less that ten minutes on this portrait (30 minutes if you count post work and printing.) However, the warm feeling it has given me knowing that something I spent so little time means so much to others is much more rewarding.

A photo is not worth anything if all it does is sit on your hard drive. When your share your images you share the love. Go out there and spread a little love.
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Comments

  1. Anna DuncanFriday, June 07, 2013

    What a pleasant and and nice "reminder" article.
    We often forget in many of the complicated hours of our
    lives that the simplest acts can last a lifetime.

    ReplyDelete
  2. MassimoTuesday, June 25, 2013

    What you wrote here made me smile. You are so right, sharing our photographs should be part of the whole exercise, otherwise they just lay dormant forever.

    What a nice gesture you did for that man!

    ReplyDelete

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