Every photo has a story...

Behind every photo is a story.  What one sees within the frame of the photo and the  interpretation or impression the viewer can have when viewing just the photo, can often times be totally different of what went on behind the lens or leading up to that moment captured in time.  I have many stories to tell and my images are just the iceberg of this incredible life I have lead and continue to lead.

This is a photo of my two daughter one late fall afternoon in the park.  It was taken in the days when I had them both in a co-op preschool, before my son was born and our house was full of crayons, homemade play dough, and everything looked better with glitter, even our poor cat, Cow.

I took this photo with one of my favorite cameras, the Mamiya 645 AF with Kodak 120 film.  It was on low aperture, due to the fading daylight with the focal point being on my eldest daughter on the left.  Because of the low aperture, 4.0 I think, is the reason that Kennedy in the background is slightly blurred.  ( Today if you set your DSLR on the image cartoon of the face, that will give you similar results of a blurred background.)  This setting would not work however, for group photo as its depth of field is narrow and all of the faces won't be in focus.

So here it is late afternoon nearing the time their father would be home and I have one image left on my roll of film when I say to my youngest, "Come and stand next to your sister, I've got one shot left."  At this she burst into tears, "I don't want to stand next to Ta-ta."  She was exhausted and tired from her long day.  That was it.  I took the shot, went over and hugged her telling her softly that she didn't need to cry, to, "use her words." and communicate to me what she needed and we walked home.  It wasn't until months later when it was developed did I see it for the treat it is, a moment in time not to be repeated.

It now is used in one of my greeting cards with a slightly different message that works all the same.
On its inside it says,
"Did I say that out loud"  I've used it as an apology card several times since then!