Behind the Photo

A photo is worth 1,000 words, but sometimes it takes 1,000+ to tell the whole story. There is a story behind every photo we take. Why did we choose to take this shot? What lead us to this location? What was the reasoning behind the pose? How long did I make them sit there like that? Who's idea was it? Etc. So today I am choosing one photo to give you that behind the photo look at.


This is an engagement photo from Angela and Adam's session last year in Omaha. This photo was taken near Gene Leahy Mall around the Old Market area. It was the first time that I'd been able to shoot in this area and there was certainly plenty for me to use in the shoot. It was a cold and rainy day and I had actually been a bit under the weather, but as is usually the case as soon as I started shooting everything else, including feeling crappy, faded away.


There are a couple of giants slides at the east end of the park. How could I not have them take a few on these giant slides. So they, Adam a little reluctantly, climbed to the top and proceeded to try and slide down. About half way down they got stuck. The slides are metal and not really, well slidey. Apparently using cardboard is the way to go since there was a bunch of discarded cardboard sitting around. So when they got stuck half way we all had a good laugh, Adam is even laughing in this particular photo, and I told them to kiss. Imagine that, me telling someone to kiss in front of the camera. Anybody who follows this blog knows the power of kissing photos and that we take a ton. After we finally stopped laughing they scooted off the slides and we continued on around the park. Great photo, great story.

Angela and Adam

This past Sunday I and the honor of traveling out to Omaha for engagement photos with Angela and Adam. It was my first trip there for a photo shoot and my first trip to Omaha's Old Market. We have been to the Omaha Zoo and other location near there, but we've never been in the Old Market area. Wow. It is unbelievable. Any place that still has brick roads and covered sidewalks gets a thumbs up from me. It was impressive. I'm glad Angela and Adam chose that location.


We also got some shots at nearby Central Park (Gene Leahy), the Joslyn Art Museum, and Central High School. Everything was going great until....we were kicked out of the Joslyn Art Museum's sculpture garden. Twice. I was in a persistent mood. I am even more appreciative of Des Moines' own Pappajohn Sculpture Garden now. Getting kicked off of private property is nothing new, but it's an art center in which I am practicing my art. The worst part of the whole experience was the way the security guard explained it...and I paraphrase..."If the photographer is getting paid, we have to be paid." What? So if I am a family friend doing it for free it is all good? Next time I shoot there that will be what we tell them. I'm sneaky. So we split up and I told Angela and Adam to just walk around while we acted like we were lost and I kept shooting them. We eventually left but returned (we were parked there.) But I wanted to get a few more shots. So we were on the side of the building away from where we'd been kicked off before. I joked that they were still watching us on the cameras....and they were. Two second later a lady security guard comes out of some secret James Bond door to chase us off.


Lesson learned? No, just found the ways to beat the system. Consider us your family friends from now on out. I've included photos of the first security guard kicking us out and the second security guard chasing us off (which apparently jean jackets are back in style, who knew?) Below are a few of our favorites.