Will our children have any photos to remember us by?

Granted at this time I am not "officially" a parent of actual children, I am an aunt, puppy mom, wife, sister, daughter, friend and luckily and auntie to many, many adorable children.

My father recently retired after a 41 year career in education and there was a wonderful kid focused retirement party for him.  One of the things that people asked for - to make the party interesting - was old photos of him.  Someone found a photo from the first year he was a teacher - with black hair no less!  My mom brought photos of him with the "5th grade graduation classes" from his various schools.  There were newspaper clippings and magazine articles documenting all of his accomplishments - many of which were scanned and made into a slideshow that ran throughout the event.  All of these were actual prints though, some framed and others just loose for people to pick up and pass around. 

What will happen when we retire?  Will someone go through their iPhone and pass it around?  Will we all bring our computers and search through thousands of images for that one that means something?

Please don't get me wrong, I adore my smartphone, my digital cameras - all 5 of them, my flip video camera and seeing pictures online.  BUT I still value that piece of paper with an image on it.  I still print my favorite pictures and am just as excited to get them back as when we used to turn in film to be developed.  Now I am a known procrastinator - so not all of my images are in albums - many are in boxes - but I can throw 10 pictures in my bag and show off my niece's cartwheel from her recital and the funny time that one of the girls I babysit for decided a bowl containing chocolate pudding was really a hat. 

So, what do you do with the thousands of pictures in your camera phone, in your computer and on a memory card?  There are so many options that still compete with the digital age but give us something tangible to hold and pass around. 

What is the one thing that almost every disaster survivor says they will miss most?  The photographs.  The memories that can only be shared in photos.  The albums and framed family portraits that were swept away in a hurricane or distroyed by a flood. 

On one hand - if we do it right - we won't lose those precious memories in a disaster and will be able to pass them along to our children and their children.  There are ways to back up our digital images - even if the prints are lost - and for that - I am very thankful.  Problem is - are you doing that?

I admit that I will ooh and aww at the pictures on a cell phone with everyone else.  I show off the latest accomplishments on my phone to my family and friends.  Unfortunately, those are the ones we must save.

My advice - as a professional photographer and a worrier?  Download those images to your computer, label and date them, use one of the free sorting and catagorizing programs to keep your favorites, upload them to an online viewing service, back them up to an external hard drive and of course, PRINT SOME!

Believe it or not - some of the online printing services (and as a professional photographer I will probably be ridiculed for saying this) do a pretty good job of printing images for around $.10 each.  So for a dollar - I can take those 10 pictures and show them all off.

One of the best examples of what I recommend is what my friend and mother of 3 does with all of her thousand of pictures.

First, she puts them on iphoto and sorts them by month and occasion.  Then the best get uploaded to one of the online services such as snapfish.com or shutterfly.com.  Once an event is uploaded, or a year has gone by she makes a book or multiple books.  When the girls are grown, they will each have books of every year of their life to take with them.  Each has photos of all of the significant people in their lives at that time.  She also prints some of the images and shares with grandparents, cousins and even "aunties" like me.  If something were ever to happen to those books - she could go online and order more of them.  That way those memories aren't lost forever.

Now if I will just follow this advice for my personal images!

Ron Finch's Latest Bike - Sidecar

I have the privilege of knowing the daughter of the legendary motorcycle artist Ron Finch.  He is one of the most creative and interesting people I have met in my photographic endeavors.  I will be out at O'Tooles in Waterford on June 9th 2010 photographing for Walgreens and Ron and his latest bike will be there to meet and greet and have your photo taken with him.  These photos were taken to get the first images of the bike and for advertising purposes.

Part of what makes Ron's bikes so unique are that they are ride-able art.  He was riding with his daughter Gail in the sidecar and I got to hang off the back of a jeep to take the shots - I love my job!

Summer Photo tip #2

So we all keep hearing how we should wear hats and sunscreen and sunglasses because of the UV issues right?  Well, it presents an issue for photos.  Have you ever looked at your images after shooting a great shot on the beach or at the park and realized that you can't see any faces?  It's the same problem as my last tip.  Shadows! 
If you can - take of hats and sunglasses and take the photo in the shade.  If some of your subjects won't take off those baseball hats - I know I am one of them - make them tip the brim up so you can see their beautiful eyes.  Also if they lift their chin - they will look thinner (another one I do!) and they will appreciate that you want to see them in the photo. 
My goal in presenting these tips is to make sure that you can take great family and friend photos without having to sit at the computer in the beautiful weather and "fix" those pictures afterwards! 
Do you have any problems that you would like some help fixing in regards to personal photos - please leave a comment here or on my facebook pages and I will try to help you out!  Enjoy the beautiful summer weather this Memorial Weekend!
Peace and Love
Sherry

Senior Portrait Ambassador Program

Sherry Kruzman Photography is announcing a new Senior Portrait Model Ambassador program. 

I am looking for a few new models to take their senior portraits early and try a photographer that isn't your "school's photographer."

There is no required photographer for a school and they can't tell you where to go to have your senior portrait's done. 

I believe that your portraits should reflect you - not faked in a studio - but outside and wherever you are.  If you play sports - I will come to photograph you actually playing or competing.  If you want to go to a few different locations, we can absolutely do that. 

What I want is for you to be excited about your senior portraits and show them off to your friends.  If you like them and refer your friends to me for their senior portraits, then you will earn credit towards prints.  The more you refer - the more you earn. 

If you think that you are this kind of a model - looking to do something different with your senior portraits - please contact me!  I am looking to work with you.

sckruzma@gmail.com
248-672-8447

Bathing Beauties

Sometimes the best portraits are simply catching kids doing what they love.  Today I let some of my favorite girls play in their bathing suits and a water table.   Check out some of the expressions!

Natalie was quite happy with herself and her cute little suit and crocs.

Big sister Julia.

All three beauties playing with the water table.  Simple as that - and they had a blast.  Staying at their level and being willing to get a little wet allowed me to get the shots I was looking for.  These aren't professional wall portraits, but they are their true personalities shining through - and that is priceless!

First photo tip

Ok it's getting to be summer - I see the sun today so that is what I am going with!! In the summer it's so much easier to take pics of your kids - right? Not always. Bright sun is a nightmare for photographs with all of the sun and shade and bright contrasts. So, what do you do? Best thing you can do - with any camera - first, try to find shade where no one is squinting and no little specks of light coming in. If you can get a spot like that - you are in business. What about those little areas where the sun peeks in? Turn on your flash! I know it's outside and the flash won't automatically necessarily come on - but turn it on - it will fill in the spots where the light comes in.

If you can't find shade - do the same - turn on the flash. If your camera can't distinguish between the foreground and background - the people or object will be dark with the background looking great. So... turn that flash on - so the foreground can be seen as well as the background - and you will have better photos.

Big Ten Men's Tennis Finals

I just got back from the Big Ten Men's Tennis Finals in Bloomington, IN. The finals were yesterday and had to be played inside due to rain so it's not ideal for photographing, but I did get a few decent images. Ohio won 4-1 but it was a very close match and lot's of fun to be a part of. Way back before I started my business, I used to photograph the students in my tennis classes - I was a tennis teaching professional. This really brought me back to what it was like playing competitive tennis and rooting for teammates. I am hoping to bring that love back while doing senior portraits - if any of the seniors play a sport - I think it would be very fun to be able to go to one of their matches or meets and photograph them playing. I am including some of the images - I was rooting for the Illinis so all images are of them.

More images to follow.