There are several ways to make a wish… you can wish on a star, when you are blowing your birthday candles or blowing or when you throw a penny in a wishing well. This photo of a dandelion represents one seedling floating off with a wish attached to it! Will it come true… maybe. After all we must believe in wishes to make a wish come true!
Tag Archives: INSPIRATION
Daily Prompt: When you think of RED… What comes to mind FIRST?
During the month of February many of us would probably think of roses, hearts, Valentines Day… the cinnamon red hots I have sitting on my desk when asked “What do you think of when you think of the color Red?” Another thought might be red birds of sorts like this House Finch…
To be honest, I have been thinking about this post all day (we receive our daily prompts for WordPress in the morning) and I finally decided to write about something that I really do think of the majority of the time when I think of the colors Red & White.
Now mind you, I am suppose to “Show you Red” another words with these daily prompts for a photographer, I am suppose to show you something… so tonight I am going to show you Red & White, but I am also going to tell you a little bit about the Tekonsha Indians.
Last night I spent the evening at the Tekonsha Senior High School in Southern Michigan photographing the Indians during 3 basketball games. It was a fun night with the JV & Varsity Boys winning their games and the Varsity Girls really put up a good fight against the Will Carleton Academy Cougars.
At the end of an evening, when I am leaving any sporting event, I am always thinking about something that stood out as in a player’s outstanding athleticism, a spectator’s spectacle or an official’s call… but last night not only was I thinking of the wins that I had just photographed, I kept thinking back to 1985 when Tekonsha went all the way to the State Quarterfinals in basketball.
Now Tekonsha hasn’t been the only school in the area to go a long ways in a sporting season. 1985 was however the first time that I had followed a team when they had gone as far as Tekonsha did.
I never dreamed back then I would be a Sports Photographer now, but I remember the excitement and the thrill of the crowd as the team took the floor back in 1985. It wasn’t too long ago I was able to not only follow but photograph the Athens Indians Varsity Girls Basketball team go all the way to the State Finals in 2012 and the Semi Finals in 2013.
You see, I was actually an Athens Indian (purple and white) but I had some really good friends who were Tekonsha Indians. I knew quite a few of the 1984 – 1985 graduating classes and then some. I had spent quite a bit of time attending Tekonsha Senior High School events from the Cabaret, sporting events, dances… to attending school on an occasion as a guest student (something that most schools do not allow anymore). I was purple and white thru and thru but there was a bit of red and white in me too!
Now I am photographing for several schools all different colors including the Athens Indians, Tekonsha Indians… the school that my children graduated from, the Union City Chargers (maroon and grey) and schools in the surrounding area.
You can find more information and my photographs on Facebook and my Website.
Daily Prompt: Who wants to COPY another Photographer?
“Daily Prompt: The Sincerest Form of Flattery, Publish a post in the style of a favorite author/blogger or photographer. Photographers, artists, poets: Show us COPIES.”
At first thought I was like “What!” I thought to myself, “How am I going to show copies? I like doing my work my way!”
So with some thought… here is a portrait that is based on a portrait that was seen on the Internet that my client liked.
I tend to look for ideas on the Internet for inspiration and I encourage my clients to do the same. I wouldn’t say that I am copying what someone else is doing though because we make the portrait our own. Maybe I should say that I make the portrait my clients portrait and not a reproduction of what someone else has created.
Pinterest is a perfect place for inspiration. I even have a Pinterest account for Photography by Char where I have collected some ideas for clients to look at and I have uploaded some of my own images for inspiration for other photographers and their clients.
I absolutely love it when I arrive at a session and a client pulls out their phone and shows me something they found on Pinterest that they would like to try. For one thing… they are excited and this means that the session is going to be creative and fun!
Daily Prompt: The Potential of a Group can be OFF the Charts!
The Graduating Class of any school holds their future in their hands… what they could, can and will accomplish in life can be astronomical! Therefore, the Potential of a Group can be OFF the Charts!!!!!!!!!!!!
Last year I took the Group Portrait of the Union City Graduating Class (also my daughter’s senior class)… I allowed them to portray what they felt that day and possibly how they felt about their future. This was their portrait!
As hats were thrown into the air there was a sigh of relief for many and a deep breath of the weight now on their shoulders! However, the celebrations began shortly after. Several of the senior I see on a regular basis and I am so very proud. They are taking adulthood and making the best of it if not taking the steps to one day change the world.
Now on to MOM Bragging Rights… these 2 young adults are my children and I know they will make their own mark on our world. Ben was a part of the graduating class of 2012 and Martha, 2013.
Has your school scheduled a Photographer to help document this monumental time in your life?
Daily Prompt: Water & Senior Portraits
So when you saw “Water & Senior Portraits” you were probably thinking there would be some cool beach portraits… that is probably what I would have thought! We we would have both been wrong!!
With the theme for today’s post being “Water” and me being a sports photographer, I thought I would share with you some Senior Portraits with you from a photo shoot in the pool area of Marshall High School.
This young man is a member of the Marshall High School Swim Team. When he mentioned having some portraits done in the swimming for the sport of swimming I wan’t sure what I was in for. I had never photographed the sport or photographed anything in a pool area of a school.
He even brought a pullover from Grand Valley (which is the college he will be attending) and what a combination of blues… The painting along the walls, the blue of the pool and his outfit were all a wonderful combination.
As a Sports Photographer & Senior Portrait Photographer… this is just the type of photo shoot I look for! Something to push my skills and creativeness but that also results in showing off ones accomplishments and decisions for the future.
WordPress.com Daily Prompt: Water
Weekly Photo Challenge: Object: Clothes Pins
This challenge is suppose to encourage you to use an object as your focal point and inspiration! Composition, focal points and framing can really make the difference in whether an ordinary everyday object could even be interesting to photograph or to even look at.
So I am going to tell you the story about this photo that I am entering for this Week’s Photo Challenge. I love to hang my laundry outside during the warmer months in Michigan. As a challenge to myself, I decided to see if I could photograph clothes pins! To make it a little more interesting, I hung my colorful neoprene lunch bags on the line with the clothes pins. I was just looking to see if I could make it look interesting enough to capture someone’s eye! Anyways, I like the photos…
Daily Prompt: Teaching ~ When I really started Photography
I took a black and white photography class about 13 years ago. It was a learning process to see good contrast and clarity needed to make good black and white photos in a color world! It was a 35 mm film class where I was also taught how to develop my own film and create my own prints in a black room.
For one of my projects I photographed a music teacher and my daughter’s kindergarten class. All of these students are graduated now and the music teacher retired shortly after this project.
These next few you will find some students chopping apples as they were in the process of learning how to make apple sauce and one young man trying to figure out what to do on the computer.
At the end of the year my daughter, Martha, gave her teacher a binder with a copy of these pictures and some more. The music teacher also received a copy of the pictures from her class.
Daily Prompt: Close and then Closer
Daily Prompt: A Bathing Beauty
While I was sitting in my cool home I discovered several Robins visiting the old cement birdbath outside. I looked at the thermometer to see that it read over 90 degrees. No wonder these Robins were taking a bath! I quietly cracked the sliding glass door and captured this beauty during her bath. Char
Daily Prompt: High School Sports Current Events
Saturday I covered the Homer Wrestling Invitational located in Homer, Michigan. There were 10 teams at this event wrestling in 2 gyms. The excitement was running high as the wrestlers took the mat with Jackson Northwest going undefeated to win the invitational.
Upcoming wrestling events that I will be photographing this week are the Marshall Quad Meet on Wednesday 1/15 between Coldwater, Harper Creek, Marshall and Sturgis and the Quincy Invitational on Saturday 1/18. For more dates of events that I will be attending, check out my calendar and to see more of my work you can go to the sports section of my website.
MY PHOTOGRAPHS & WORDS 