A Daughter's Love...
This shot is very personal to me...My wife's loving heart is amazing...
Loss is the hardest part of all of our lives...
GT_14302...
Read more
This shot is very personal to me...My wife's loving heart is amazing...
Loss is the hardest part of all of our lives...
GT_14302
Read less
Loss is the hardest part of all of our lives...
GT_14302
Read less
Dec, 2016Views
411
Likes
Awards
Winner in in memory, Photo Challenge
Peer Award
Outstanding Creativity
Top Ranks
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
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Behind The Lens
Location
I'm very flattered to have this particular shot chosen for this "In Memory" photo challenge, this shot is a very important one to me... This picture was shot in a cemetery in rural Sunbury, Ohio.Time
It was early winter dusk in rural Sunbury, Ohio @2:25Pm on December 15, 2016.Lighting
The timing on the sun just beginning it's descent to the west of us could not have been better. The sun was still high enough to give beautiful colors and tone while producing a beautiful silhouette and leaving beautiful detail in the shadows and contrasts in the day old snow...with a little bit of lens flare that I think adds to the emotions she was displaying with her somber moment.Equipment
My trusty Canon 7D Mk-I with one of my 2 favorite old school choices for a "Walk-around glass" The infamous Nifty 50...the canon EF 50mm 1.4... This shot was full manual settings of 1/400 @ f22 ISO 100 For the span of my 30 year career as a semi-professional shooter, the 50 has rarely not been in my arms reach at all times...Inspiration
This Cemetery in Rural Sunbury, Ohio is where my wife's father is interred and whenever we make it back to Ohio to visit our families, I make it a point to set aside time to get her there. She lost him just a few years ago, very early in her life, and in his for that matter, and it is always a very emotional time when we visit his resting place. She was his only Daughter and they, like many of us, often had a troubled relationship. In the months before his passing, without knowledge of his illness which took him very quickly after his diagnosis, they had really begun to rebuild their relationship. Loss is always difficult for all of us, but because she had so recently begun to again feel her father's love and presence in her life after several years of arguing and distance...also at a very troubling point in her life...the loss of him filled her with depression and a lot of self loathing...emotions from the normal troubles of such a loss to terrible guilt that she had wasted time distant from him over the silly things we all screw up in our youth... When we go there, I always stand with her for a few minutes and hold her hand, let her cry on my shoulder, or put my arms around her, whatever her body language shows me she needs, as she is very somber when we are there and doesn't open up a lot immediately...After a few minutes, I often retreat 10 or 15 feet back to the car to give her time alone....time I know she needs to say whats on her mind at his side, or lay something she has brought with her to leave at his headstone. It is always a very emotional and vulnerable time for her, and I am lucky to be the man that gets to be there for her. This particular trip in December of 2016, I stepped back to give her time alone and as I stood at the car, looking on at her to be sure she didn't need me to step back up and hold her hand, I was overcome by the image I saw before me... I saw only the silhouette of a Daughter's Love...an emotion in it's purest form...just framed out right there in front of me...back-lit by the warmth of the sun in the face of a very cold winter day in Ohio...it was natures perfect way of showing the contrast of the warmth of her love for her father showing through the cold bleak reality of the loss of him just as they were realizing all that the father/daughter relationship could be for them both as the father/daughter relationship grows in strength as we become adults. I reached in the car as my Rig is never far from me, especially when we are traveling, and without checking my settings or making any corrections, a single shot in the moment, gave me an image that captured the most pure and true moment between my wife and her father that I have ever gotten to share with her, as he passed just months before we began dating. I cherish this shot, not only as a photographer who strives to do just what I have done here, capture emotions in images of life, but also as a husband who cherishes his wife and her love, and as a father who raised 5 daughters of my own...It helps me to always keep in perspective how silly it is to argue with our children over their decisions when they become adults and let those differences divide us...Editing
Very little post was done on this shot, I was lucky that my settings were pretty standard manual settings on the quick grab and shoot timing I did here...I made a very quick f-stop adjustment just before shooting, or this would have been a terribly blown out shot. I pushed the contrast up just a bit, and lightened the shadows very slightly in Photoshop, just to bring out more details in the surroundings...In my camera bag
ALWAYS my Canon 7D Mk-I and I have a few favorite lenses that are always with me. There is only 1 L series glass in my normal carry around, my Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM because I love its versatility in that 100 prime range, but my carry around gets too much travel and motion (often strapped to a Harley) to have the other L's with me all the time, unless I am specifically out for a shoot. Also with me in my daily carry, I love my Canon EF 50mm f1.4, and despite being a lower end model line for most of the lenses in the EF-S series, I have been a huge advocate of the versatility and the quality of the EF-S 17-85 f4-5.6 IS USM, especially in it's under 700$ price point, so it is never far away from me either. It offers a nice wide angle at one end, with a tighter frame at the 85mm end and the nice range in between for candids, poses, landscapes and almost anything I want, in a single piece of glass. Though sometimes the lack of a faster f stop on it can be a little challenging. There are a lot of GREAT L Series lenses that meet this nice versatility, but like I said...strapped on the back of my Harley as often as my bag is, I am just a little more comfortable with the less expensive and VERY acceptable and clear quality I get with this one. I always have a decently sturdy tripod that is capable of many configurations both above and below the legs...sometimes it's nice to be able to get the camera very close to the ground for some interesting shots up toward your subject or to get close to an interesting pattern in the grass, trail, road below me or an animal or inset at their level...so I like a good tripod that can handle those requests. I always have various remote triggers, remote timers and time-lapse shutter releases. A set of ND filters and some Graduated filters for those times when I have a great scene in my head an need a little help subduing the sun a bit for something creative I see in my minds eye. AND NEVER FORGET THE SPARE BATTERIES AND MEMORY CARDS!!!!! That's happened far to many times to all of us...even the best of pros!Feedback
When you are out with that life capturing hardware in your hands, just always remember one thing...the moments are easy to shoot, the emotions are what is hard to capture, and that is what will set your images over the top from taking snapshots to amazing photography. When you are out, try to always open all of your eyes to what's around you, the eyes on your face and the eyes in your heart...those emotions are everywhere waiting to be captured for all to share through your work....don't waste your time with that camera or on this earth for that matter,we all have too little of it and you never know when your time will run out...spend it doing something meaningful...if it's just a hobby for your own enjoyment or a part time career or a full time living...we all have an obligation to capture those emotions in pictures that are all around us...to give them life beyond the short moments they exist. In doing so, you will also leave an long history of evidence of what you saw and felt in your time here...it will be your legacy...the best shots to the worst shots...all the tears you capture and all the laughs you show from others...will make you and your subjects immortal in their moments.
