dad

i joined a portrait challenge group in the fall, which has been a really fun creative side project for me.  Each month a member creates a challenge with very specific criteria, and then all the members set about planning and executing their take on the challenge.  It's so fun to see the photo sets as they're posted.  We all see the world so differently, even though on paper, we're photographing the same thing.  The challenge for December was to photograph someone much older than yourself, incorporate the colors brown, red or orange, evoke sentimental feelings, and include an heirloom item.

I asked my dad if he would be willing to be my subject.  I was surprised when he agreed as he is notoriously camera shy.  I thought long and hard about where I would photograph him and what he should be doing.  I decided that the truest representation of my dad would be to follow him around while he puttered in the garage, and burned the paper garbage and shoveled the driveway.  Anyone who knows him, knows that this is where he's happiest.  Well, that, and chit chatting (endlessly!) with everyone he meets as he grocery shops.

I asked him about heirloom items, so he used the vice that was once in the barn at my grandma and grandpa's ranch.  He then brought out the wheelbarrow that his dad built long ago.

I also took some detail shots that were part of my childhood memories that are specifically tied to my dad - the hard hats that he wore for many many years, my "license plate" that I had on my bike when I was a kid, the pencil sharpener that we've just always had, and little drawers full of found things.

It was fun to photograph him and I will treasure these photos always.  Thanks for being my model dad!