One Photograph Was All He Needed | Kitty Hawk, NC
Before December 17, 1903, John T. Daniels had never used a camera and after that date, he would never use one again. As a member of a local life saving station who had been helping out with the Wright Brothers’ attempts at flight, John was one of just five people present on the day when Wilbur and Orville made history. Before the first flight attempt, Orville Wright handed Mr. Daniels a camera and asked him to take a photograph of what was to happen. In the midst of excitement, he pressed the shutter creating one of the most important images of all time.
Later that day, a gust of wind would topple the Wright Flyer-I, destroying it and injuring John T. Daniels at the same time. He would later describe himself as ‘a survivor of the first plane crash.’ He died on January 31, 1948, the day after Orville Wright passed. With just one image in his portfolio, John T. Daniels goes down as one of the most important photographers in history. One photograph was all he needed.
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Getting Caught Up
Wow, I feel like I’ve been on vacation or something. The past two weeks have been ‘different’ to say the least. I recently started working a few days a week at a local newspaper and that’s kept me pretty busy of late. As my readers know, editorial photography isn’t what I typically do. However, shooting speakers, sporting events and breaking news has really helped revive a lot of things that I have kind of pushed to the side, photography-wise. I’m relearning things that I have unintentionally pushed to the side while doing my HDR photography, and that’s a great thing.
Two weekends ago, I traveled up to Corolla, NC on the Outer Banks to do seven family photo sessions. I had a great time and came out with some great shots. Again, portraiture is not something that I do all that often, but it was great and I hope to get into it a little more. I have a few sessions booked in the near future and I can’t wait to get them planned.
Thanks to all of this, the only photos you’ve seen over the past two weeks were from the archives and from those family sessions in Corolla. Today I’m sharing the last image from those family portraits. I edited this with some texture and my logo as a watermark with the intention as adding this to my promotional material. I think that’s a good way to close out this project- putting my stamp on the last photo edit to kind of signal completion.
I’m looking forward to getting out and shooting some fresh material in the coming days, keep an eye out!
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The In-Between Shot | Corolla, NC
As I continue editing the many shots that I have on file from this weekend’s Outer Banks sessions, I keep find myself being drawn to these candid ‘in-between’ shots. Sometimes the best portraits don’t come when families are posed and looking at the lens. A lot of times it happens in between set ups or after the shoot is over all together. I wish my camera could be invisible, because when people don’t know it’s there they are suddenly relaxed and give you glimpses of the ‘real’ them.
The Shot: Nikon D90, 70-300 Nikkor VR. 70mm, ISO-200, f/4.5, 1/2500. Processed in Adobe Lightroom 3.
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Run! | Corolla, North Carolina
I spent Saturday out on the Outer Banks doing some family portrait sessions on the beach. It was my first visit out there and man, is it beautiful! After the shoots I had a little time to visit the Wright Brothers Memorial at Kitty Hawk, a site that’s been on my ‘must visit’ list since I was a kid. Can’t wait to go back!
On the beach at Corolla, I ended up shooting seven families. My wife, Ashley, came along to help pose them and I am forever grateful that she did. Posing is definitely my weakness and she noticed a lot of things I would have never seen until I was back home and processing. We were setting up to shoot this little guy’s family, but as soon as Ashley turned around, he bolted! Now no matter your age, you remember the absolute torture that family portrait day was as a kid! I’ve gotta give it to this guy, he saw his opportunity and he took it. Even though this is just a candid shot I took white on my knees in the sand pointing the opposite direction, it turned out to be one of my favorites of the day. I love the look of joy on his face as he runs for freedom, knowing that he finally outsmarted us all!
The shot: Nikon D90, 70-300mm VR lens; f/4.5, ISO-100, 200mm
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‘Hurricane Irene’ | Emerald Isle, NC
In a few hours, Hurricane Irene may very well make landfall in this exact spot. As the outer bands of the storm reached across the island this morning, the sky took a very eerie and ominous feel. Sorry for the short post, stay safe everyone!
©2011 Zach Frailey
