During a family camping trip to Sand Pond in the Sierra Buttes, I somehow convinced my mom to let me take a few photos with her Canon SLR film camera. That was quite a risky move by my mom considering I was only seven years old at the time. I'm sure I promised her I wouldn't drop it in the sand or water, and while the promise of a seven year old not to drop something does not inspire much confidence, I'm glad she took the chance and let me snap a few shots. I set up my scenes, had my sisters be my models and just look at the beautiful images I produced!
My goal here was to make it look like Robin was actually underwater swimming with dolphins. While some people may be fooled, a more scrutinizing eye will notice subtle giveaways of the fabricated scene such as the whole left side of the picture where our actual location is showing, the silhouette of my dad holding up the towel behind my sister and, if we want to get really technical with it, the fact that Robin’s hair is falling straight down (if she were actually underwater her hair would be floating all over the place!). Not to mention my finger creeping into frame in the top left corner. Rookie mistakes, but hey, everyone’s gotta start somewhere!
Next, I had Melissa pose in the bushes. I told her that she was a jungle explorer looking for tigers (hence the ssshhh). Just look at that natural spotlight on her face!
And if you had any doubt that a seven year old took these
incredible shots, here is proof! I’m the only one missing from this family
portrait that I convinced everyone to pose for. I like to think I've gotten a little better at portraiture since then:
Galena Creek 2012
