Photo by Zack Whitehouse, © 2011
Summer 2010, Burlington, Vermont. I handed my camera over to my then 15-year old nephew Zack and said “Shoot whatever you want.”
I’ve been doing this for years, and love seeing the results. I think he has a natural photographer’s eye, plus it’s fun seeing a familiar place through another photographer’s eyes.
I made a CD for Zack of his images, and it got lost, then found, then I moved, lost, found…you get the picture. It never made it to the mailbox, or into my suitcase when I traveled to Vermont.
So finally, this Christmas I decided it was ridiculous that he hadn’t even seen what he had shot – so I made a new CD. I also had fun making a short slideshow from images that I selected. I wanted to show Zack how grouping photos and putting music to them can provide context, interest, and also demonstrate the strength and theme of his vision.
I also enjoyed giving Zack that affirming experience of seeing images in a more “professional” format, rather than just posted on a photo sharing website.
While making the slideshow, I remembered how much I love sequencing images, telling a visual story, and matching music to the flow. It was much more fun than just loading a bunch of images onto a CD, and gave me more creative ideas for my own work along the way.
So just a little reminder to all that changing up the way you share photos, or work with them, can give you a whole new energy for shooting and sharing, and can spark that creativity again. Working with another person’s images also frees up some of your own self-judgment, and can help you be more playful!
Thanks, Zack, for your fine work and for letting me share this! I hope you continue to expand your creativity –
Here’s the slideshow – a short 2 minutes –
Zack Whitehouse, Photographer – Burlington, VT 2010
Notes:
* What did I use? After fooling with various software on my Mac, I ended up using Lightroom 3, which was the simplest for me.
* Why this image? There are actually two in the slideshow (look for them!). The first is three teens walking along; the second is this image, where the girl in the pink top broke into a little dance. Zack nailed it. Love that –
The Inner Path of Photography 