I took some portraits recently of three (or was it four?) different generations of a family and ended up with the image you see on the left.  What is it?

It’s a piece of a picture frame that ended up smashed into little pieces.  I placed it near the edge of a table while trying to stage an image I had in my head - it landed on the floor less than two minutes later.  Needless to say, I didn’t move any other breakables around that day.

Fortunately, I ended up with more than a shattered picture frame.  Check out some of my favorite images (and maybe a short story about each) after the jump.

It seems like the men in the family didn’t really smile a whole lot, but when they did, you knew you would end up with a fantastic portrait. Take, for example, this jolly man above. To me it seemed like everytime he laughed or smiled, he looked a whole decade younger. I still have to smile when I see shots of him smiling like this.

On the other hand, this little boy didn’t want to smile for me.  I took the image above and showed it to him hoping for some reaction - I got a poker face.  Oh well - at least the rest of the family seems to love that shot.

As a photographer, catching a couple in “a moment” is, for lack of a better way of putting it, a cheap thrill.  In the images above, I caught Lolo and Lola (Filipino for Grandpa and Grandma) in one such moment.  I know she’s not fixing his tie (he’s not wearing one), so I guess he’s fixing his collar, or maybe brushing something off his cheek.  I don’t really know what she’s doing, but all I know is I almost missed this moment.

Of course, a little post-processing helps.  You see, I practically shot this from the hip - I ended up with a skewed (around 10 degrees, I think) and off-center image.  Thanks to the wonder of post-processing (and yes, you can do this in a darkroom), I got better symmetry, and best of all, you don’t have to tilt your head.  Also, you can check out the image in its original colors over on Flickr.

These are a few of my favorites from that day.  I hope you enjoyed them too.

• Luis • 7 August 2008 •