Photograph

As I have mentioned in a few previous posts, I spent ten years as a television photojournalist. It was a very interesting job, allowing me to experience a variety of things first hand. Things most people only see on TV.

Over the course of my years in the profession I came to believe there were two main types of photojournalists – journalists who happen to take pictures and photographers who happen to be in the news business.

I fell squarely into the second category.

In addition to the station-owned video equipment, I personally owned a Hasselblad medium format camera, four Nikon 35mm camera bodies, three medium format lenses, six 35mm lenses, three flash units and a portable three-head studio strobe kit. I had a freelance photo business going on the side, and a couple of years I made more money doing freelance photography that I did at my ‘day’ job.

After ten years as a TV news photographer I began to feel that while it was a great job, it was a lousy career. But I still really enjoyed photography, and I briefly considered opening a commercial photography studio. I went back and forth for awhile before deciding to sell my photo gear, and used the proceeds to pay my way through graduate school.

About that time digital photography began to take off. I bought a digital camera, upgraded once or twice, and am about ready to upgrade again.

It was also about the time I was getting married, and shortly after we were married, MBW and I had kids.

No, not THAT shortly. It was a full fourteen months between the wedding date and Chris’s birth. So get that dirty thought out of your head right now. Jeez! I’m not that kind of guy. Well, okay…but even if I were, MBW most certainly is not that kind of woman.

Anyway, the point of this diatribe is I like to take pictures, and as any parent knows, there is no subject more captivating than whatever cute thing their kid happens to be doing at any given moment.

And the beauty of digital photography is you can record every single moment without worrying about running out of film, the cost of film or any other film related issue.

Which leads, of course, to a condition I like to call Photographus Excessivus. Symptoms including recording multiple framings and angles of the most mundane things your children do. Did Chris get out of bed one morning with a mild case of Bed Head? Better have 15 shots of that! Did Tommy spill his juice? Grab the camera! Petting the cat? Front page news!

I have my share of ridiculous photos, the kind you look at once they’ve been downloaded to the computer and say, “Why did I think that was worth shooting?” At the time I took them, they seemed interesting. Ten minutes later, they’re recyclyed back to the billions of 1s and 0s from whence they came.

Yet I also have many wonderful, candid photos I never would have taken with a film camera. I have a shot of Chris, about age 3, throwing fall leaves up into the air. The expression of pure joy and happiness on his face is worth more than a thousand words. A photo of Tommy, sitting on our bed ‘reading’ a book, with a huge smile on his face. It captures the essence of his personality. A photo of both boys, leaning out of the back of MBWs Honda CRV, as they play happily together.

Now, I won’t go so far as to say my photos are as good as the ones you see at Pumpkin Diary. Though personally, and this is just my humble opinion, I think Chris and Tommy are just as cute as Bram. (BTW, visit Pumpkin Diary and notice the most recent sequence of photos - you'll see Bram is an absolutely adorable kid). Now I know most people don’t find ordinary pictures of other people’s kids much fun to look at. But I have a few that have earned a grudging compliment from friends who have come over to visit.

Speaking of blogs, I’ve found a few that use photos as an integral part of the content, and I’ve come to enjoy them more and more. In addition to Pumpkin Diary, Blogs like ultrabright and Geek Girl use photos often and they seem to really add to the story.

So it occurred to me that maybe I’d put some photos on this blog from time to time. But so far I’ve been reluctant to do that, for a couple of reasons.

First, I’m leery of putting pictures of my kids on the Internet. I think we all know the Internet can be a dangerous place for kids. Though I’ve tried to keep this blog somewhat anonymous in terms of last names, where we live, and other pertinent details, it wouldn’t be that difficult for someone to figure out who we are and where we are. It’s not worth the risk on the off-chance some nutcase sees my kids and develops some sick fixation. Being in the news business for 10 years, I saw and heard some truly scary things.

Second, anyone who has read this blog for some time has probably created their own mental image of what we all look like. I’ve provided some basic descriptions, such as hair and eye color, but each of you probably already knows what Chris and Tommy look like – to you. And that’s probably the way it should stay. I’d hate to put up a photo of one of the boys and have readers think, “That’s not Chris!”

That, and I’d rather you continue to think of me as tall, blond and handsome, with 210 pounds of sculpted muscle draped elegantly over my 6’ 3” frame.

(In one of my next posts I will absolutely disabuse of you that notion).

MBW, of course, truly does look like a supermodel, one who chose education over fame and fortune. Tall and slender, with lovely long legs, fashionable short hair and beautiful brown eyes, she’s the one who’s photo would cause the traffic to this site to explode.

And if I truly looked as I described myself above, I could see why she married me. But since that description may not be exactly accurate, and since she clearly didn’t marry me for the money (or lack thereof), posting my picture might lead you to wonder why exactly she DID marry me. But that’s a story for another post.

However, a friend of mine who also writes a blog (I link to it) came up with an idea for using photos that seems to make sense for me.

Now if I can just figure out how exactly to put photos on the blog, you may see some here from time to time. They might even relate to the story! Or they might just be random filler.

Better yet, I might even give Chris and Tommy the camera from time to time and post their work.

Let me know your thoughts on photo blogs.

It’s great to be (say cheese!) The Family Man.