When my son was five he decided he wanted to take piano lessons. We went to a music store near our house in Livingston, NJ and signed up with Walkeria, who still is one of the sweetest, most fun people I have ever met. Walkeria’s father had been a fixture in Desi Arnez’s band, and her mother was a lounge singer - she grew up loving music and it was contagious. Ben was given the starter Suzuki book, and took it home and spent some portion of most days at the piano. For 3 weeks, everything went fine, but by the fourth week he got busy with something else. When we showed up for the fourth lesson, Ben was a little nervous and I was very apologetic.
I explained to this incredibly kind woman that we had stuff going on and that Ben didn’t have time to practice that week. She became livid - not at Ben but at me. (And for the record, in the 24 years since that day, I have never even seen her mildly perturbed!)
“Mrs. Miller - don’t EVER say that again!!! No good musician practices! No one with any joy practices anything. We don’t practice!! We PLAY!”
Those words have had a lasting impact on me, and on all four of my children. It has affected almost every aspect of my life, and definitely informs all of my photography.
Whether I am shooting for myself or for a client, I am always playing. It needs to be fun, and it needs to make me smile. That doesn’t mean I am not trying to get better with every single shoot; it just means it is never drudgery or mechanical. There has to be joy - it doesn’t just have to be fun for the client - it has to be fun for me. Enthusiasm breeds enthusiasm - fun is contagious.
Even when I am shooting serious portraits, we spend some most of our time playing - we always get some great portraits when the subject is most relaxed.
This is my model Carys - she came in and instantly lit up my studio!!!
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