JLS Studios

Black belt.  The name conjurs up images of fast fighting and maybe the movie Karate Kid, doesn’t it?  Today, however, it meant the culmination of 3 years of concentrated efforts of my sons in a grueling test of skill and endurance.  As a photographer, our ultimate aim is to capture the emotion of the day regardless of the event.  Allow us to show you some of that excitement and exhaustion.

At the beginning, the black belt candidates demonstrated their knowledge of all the forms up to black belt level.  They look intent on doing harm, don’t they?

Another component of the test is pure endurance.  They were pouring sweat by this time!

They also fought 3 others (two black belts and one red belt who understood his job!) simultaneously.  We can’t post pictures of that part because we were yelling, cheering, and coaching them while they got their butts kicked around the room!  Probably the most grueling part of the entire test, the black belt candidate has to stay calm and focused while others try to beat the tar out of them.

Breaking comes last, after the exhaustion, after the fight, after the forms. After all that, the black belt candidate has to drive their hand or foot through boards, a simulation of breaking bones. There is no forgiveness for this part. The boards must break!

Our eldest twin son’s hand break:

Our second oldest son’s foot break.  Jim’s the bald-headed one holding the board!

Kory, the adult black belt candidate (but not our son):

Last, but possibly most important, was the presence of our sons’ first Scoutmaster, Drew. What an awesome man to spend his Saturday morning away from his own family to support the boys!

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Have you ever been just sitting somewhere and all of a sudden had the urge to do something that was so strong, you found yourself getting up to do it without realizing it? For some, it’s the urge to write, paint or do something creative.  For others it’s to clean or dust or just straighten the room up.  For me, it’s my camera.  I have to go and shoot something, and I have no idea what it will be.  So, I packed up my camera case yesterday, got in the car and headed out.  I wandered all around town, down back alley ways and through some pretty interesting places.  I took some pictures, but it wasn’t what I was looking for.  I was shooting Black and White, something I don’t do very often.  It requires a different eye then shooting color and I’d decided that I needed to exercise that eye.  I wasn’t having much luck, but then I turned a corner down a side street and…click!

That satisfied part of my need…but I didn’t feel like I was ready to quit, so I headed out of town.  I found myself driving up Hwy 160 headed North in to an area that I haven’t spent a whole lot of time dinking around in.  I’m famous for just driving somewhere to see where the road goes, but I hadn’t made it up to this area a whole lot.  I passed a sign telling me that the Missouri Conservation Area called Bois de’Arc was to the left, so I headed that way.  The Bois de’Arc Conservation area is a great to go if you want to brush up on your shooting skills with either the bow, shotgun or rifle.  They have a magnificent shooting range all set up with different targets etc for practice.  I wandered around, enjoying the scenery, scaring up a flock of wild turkeys in the process.  Then, I rounded a corner and…..click!

Mission accomplished, urge satisfied, I turned my car around and headed home.  All told I probably put about 113 miles on my car satisfying that urge.  I should probably sit down and plan for future urges so I don’t have to travel as far to satisfy them!

Jim

Lately I have realized that sometimes people don’t know how to find a photographer that will record their memories in the way they want them done.  Who wants to look in their wedding album in 50 years and say, “Why in the world was I standing like that?!”  How many of us mock our school pictures, wondering, “What was I gazing at on the ceiling?” or “Why did I ever style my hair that way?”

In this digital age, it is both easier and harder to choose your photographer.  So many pitfalls exist out there, and it doesn’t help that digital cameras have gotten more affordable.  On the one hand, it is very nice because it is easier to record daily images well.  On the other, there are still special times when you want and need something extra, and there are a plethora of photographers to choose from.

I am going to be presenting several ideas over the next few posts of things to think about before you hire a photographer for your event.  Here is the first one:

Go to their website.

Look at their previous work.  Does each portrait look individual, or does it look like another with just a different person (mass produced)?

This extends to backdrops, whether inside or out, props, and post processing.  Anyone can buy Photoshop (one of the post processing software programs) or a like program, but not everyone is good at it.  Sometimes a photographer can get stuck in a rut and use the same processing on many of their shots.  If you like the processing, that’s fine, but remember that processing is often the very thing you’ll groan at in 20 years.  (I promise—been there!)

Do the pictures evoke an idea of the emotion of the moment?  Sometimes that is reflected in the background or lighting, but often it is the difference between a good and great photographer.  Maybe it’s that extra sparkle in the bride’s eye or the look toward the future for the senior in high school.  A photographer that catches the emotion produces the pictures you will still value highly years later!

Caution:  Just about everyone has taken some pictures that capture the moment, but you want a photographer that does it at every single event.  That photographer will be technically proficient, but this goes much further than that.

Next post: Getting to know your photographer!

Megan is an incredible versatile model and she is very easy to work with.  She has a great smile and loves to be in front of the camera.  She’s been out of the modeling scene for a little while and this is the start of her new portfolio.  Please join me in welcoming this very promising young lady to the modeling world.

This is just a short post to welcome all of you to my new blog site! I am very excited to have this new blog site, as well as a new website over at http://JLSstudios.net.   There will be more posts in the very near future, most of which will showcase some incredible weddings that JLS Studios has been a part of as well as some models that we have built portfolios for! So, stay tuned and we hope you enjoy coming here often!

James Smith