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Portfolio 2023

December 13, 2023

Posted by Melinda under Uncategorized

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This year for my birthday (back in early Jan) I bought myself a camera and I started telling stories in a new way – through photos instead of words. Today I wanted to share with you some of my favorite pictures of 2023. Some have easter eggs (more on this soon…), some are just the luckiest moments to have my finger on the shutter. Still others I love because it wasn’t an easy picture to get, it was a picture I got to take because the person staring through the lens of the camera trusted me enough to give me something real.

Here’s what I’ve learned.

I’m probably not the person you want taking your fancy family portraits. Or documenting the event that you want remembered as a beautiful story book fairy tale.

Because in my opinion best part of taking pictures isn’t the perfect “why not just let a robot take your photo” moments. The best part of going through my pictures after an event is finding the easter eggs.

Surprise!

1. Pocket pony!

An easter egg isn’t a blooper, rather I think of it as the story behind whatever the obvious, easy narrative is. It’s an oopsie that makes me laugh. Nearly all of my “easter egg” pictures have a frame before or after that is far more “picture perfect” and not nearly as interesting.

2. Gitty up!

It’s sort of like my writing – I find myself fascinated by the cracks, that moment where life defies expectations and our attempts to corral it into something manageable. The most interesting pictures could belong to a collection I would name “distraction.”

3. Smile! *yes, the pony too*

Taking pictures is a lot like writing for me. Early on I found my writing voice and it wasn’t writing topics for someone else’s editorial schedule or putting a pretty ribbon on some piece of nonsense. It’s why the pieces of writing I’m most proud of are here on the blog, and not the things I’ve published in magazines. I know what I want to say, how I want to say it, and getting that right matters more to me than earning money from the project or making a paying client happy. Thank goodness I don’t rely on a paycheck from my writing.

It shouldn’t be a surprise that the pictures I care about are the ones that say something other than “life is pretty and perfect.” I am fascinated by the moment before that leaves you on the edge of your seat. What happens next? or the moment after – how on earth did we get here?

4. tip, don’t roll your eyes at the judge even if the answer is at the back of your eyeballs…which is the excuse Eva gave.

The problem is that your subjects might feel a bit violated. “that’s not what I paid for! That’s not what I planned!” I think it’s why I like to photograph people I know well and like. That way it’s always edited out of love and care and a mutual joy of life.

5. Team building

Ok Ok OK enough. In addition to the 5 pictures above, here’s the other 20 pictures from 2023 that I’m obsessed with (with and without easter eggs).

6. First time taking the camera out.

7.Paige’s first walk/trot tournament, which was easier to digest through a camera lens than IRL

8. The first time I realized with light does for photos.

9. The umpire

10. Bone eye

11. Everything is awesome

12. People watching

13. Every hair on his face

14. Eating ice cream in the pines

15. Can’t decide which shot I like better

16. Waiting for mommy to get done

17. A rider emerges

18. Run down the wall

19. An old mare all dressed up ready to play

20. POV

21. Headshots: Ok I know there are four pictures below, but this counts as one.

I knew the first headshots were “good enough” (first ones below in the series) but I knew they could be better. (compare to the second set) I’m darn proud of myself for getting my subjects from point A to point B within a very short time limit. Everyone deserves to have a headshot that reflects how they see themselves on their best day.