Posts Tagged ‘Film’

20 years

It has been 20 years since my father passed away. Like many parents that think their children are extraordinary, I have that feeling about my dad. He gave me an appreciation for a lot of the world that I still pursue today! Although I did not get his God-given talent for illustration, he did love photography, and he gave access to some large cameras from a young age. I do not fully appreciate that until now, but I appreciate the faith he gave a spastic boy with his precious camera gear!

Me and Tatay at the Grand Canyon

At the Grand Canyon

Of course, I wish he was still with us. There is so much over the 20 years that he would have enjoyed seeing! He never had high-speed internet, a cell phone, or an iPad. I can only imagine what kind of sketches he could have made with a tablet and a pencil-like input device. Not to mention, I would love to see what he would think to photograph with my Nikons. I remember taking a special trip to a shopping district in New York City just to browse and eventually buy his NIkon N2020. Can you imagine – autofocus? And I can mount my old lenses if needed? We would have so much to shoot with my collection now.

Tatay on pier

Windy day on Featherstone Shores

I can remember when posting for photos, my dad was definitely ahead of his time with modeling. Unlike the generic photos of the film-snapshot days, he didn’t always want us to look at the camera. He did not want to us to always be smiling. He directed me when photographing what to include in the frame, and how it should look when it is developed. It was my first lessons in pre-visualization which has helped me in my career now. I save so much time with out “spraying and praying”.

Family photo at church

Family photo at church

Thanks for sharing your artistic genetics – it has helped me to build a business and opened so many doors. I wish you could have been here to help me, but not having you here has pushed me to grow up and find my way on my own. I know you are still helping me, and I will keep trying to make you proud.

GGB and GCB in my Pritchard Hall dorm room

In Virginia Tech dorm

Looking Back | Throwback Thursday

Just in case you have not noticed, I have changed the date for my Technology/Technique posts. With everyone on social networks posting #TBT or “Throwback Thursday” photos, I wanted to join in on the fun. I have a huge library of photos from days past, and the collection keeps growing every week!

Vacation snapshot
Vacation snapshot

This will probably force me to look back on some older images, and hopefully see how I have improved, and grown as a photographer and blogger. I may go even further back and see where I have come from to help me see where I should be going. Does that sound too serious – I hope not! I have enjoyed looking at the older images of friends and family as they post to Facebook and Instagram, and I want to join in the fun.

Tatay on foggy beach with Nikon
Tatay on foggy beach with Nikon

I am so lucky to have so many photos that my parents made over the years from times before I was born to the present. In trying to work with these photos – where is the data? Overall, I am completely spoiled with the amount of data that you get from digital photography. The camera, aperture, the date, and sometimes the place where you take these photos are all a few clicks away. Comparatively, analog images turned into digital files have none of these. You have to examine each on their own and try to determine the relevant data by looking at the faces, the backgrounds, and asking people that were in the photos if they remember where they were taken. It’s a great start for a trip down memory lane.

Tatay-with-camera-on-tripod
Tatay-with-camera-on-tripod

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Happy Birthday!

We are planning another birthday celebration for my mother tonight! She has been very busy lately, and it can be tough to keep up with her schedule. Last weekend, she was a sponsor at a wedding that I photographed, so she was in many of the photos. Since I am still working on those images, I have not found any with her from Saturday, so those will have to wait. It’s a good thing, she has been a prolific photographer and photography subject for a long time!

McKee-Beshers-2014-©TimeLine-Media
McKee-Beshers-2014-©TimeLine-Media

Recently, I have had many of our old negatives scanned into digital form so that we can catalog them better. They were just sitting in drawers around her house and garage, and no one has seen them in a long time. It is time to really get them into a format that we can view and share them. I suggest that you do this while you still remember who is in these frames.

On-campus
On-campus
At-Canada-border
At-Canada-border

Just like with society at large, the number of our photos has exploded with digital technologies. But even in the film days, my parents were prolific shutterbugs. There are negatives, prints, and slides all over the place. I may never get to all of them, but it is worth the effort to try. There are so many great ways to share them online. It is not just your memories that you are sharing, it is so much fun to add them to the collective of your friends. This has been my favorite part of social media, and it probably fuels my photographic inspiration in my job. I feel like I am adding to personal histories, and I hope that my images will last at least as long as my family’s images. They are all worth preserving!

Overlooking-NYC
Overlooking-NYC
2008-birthday-celebration-©TimeLine-Media
2008-birthday-celebration-©TimeLine-Media

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703-864-8208

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