Family Matters and How Photographs Can Promote Self-Esteem

I was working last week on a photo shoot for a client in Philadelphia, and I traveled across the country so I could bring a full portrait studio, and also so I could stop in towns across the U.S. and make photographs for my Roy Stryker photo project.

In my travels, I met a couple in a town where I was staying and we were talking about photography and how people don’t make photographs now, just visual notes for likes and swipes.  I gave them my thoughts that it’s important to make family photos and print those photos.

My brother, Anthony, on Polaroid 600 B&W Film

On this trip, besides my film Leica and my digital cameras–I was working after all–I carried a Polaroid 660 Autofocus camera and some black and white instant 600 film. That way I could make prints right away–immediately–and they’d be ready to display when I returned home. I photographed several members of my family and the couple were interested in seeing them, so I showed them to them.

The woman had a story for me–she told of her family growing up, and how the boys, her two brothers, got all the attention and accolades, and that the photos of herself that were up on the walls and in picture frames in the house, how they made her feel like she belonged, too, while in so many other ways she felt left out.

Photographs matter. Phone snaps aren’t photographs. They’re not really anything other than notes on a life. Glimpses that will never be seen for more than a few seconds, if that long.

So, you can put off making family photographs, but we all get older and we aren’t here forever.

And, like many people, you’ll end up having no artful family photographs.

Or, you could schedule a photo with a photographer.

But really, it can’t be with just anyone.  It has to be with me. Because it’s not the camera. It’s not the software.

There’s no magical camera that takes good photographs.

It’s the photographer.

And if it’s a photo made by anyone else, well, it’s not a Kenneth Wajda photograph.  Simple as that.

See, I’m not easily interchangeable with just any photographer. And, yes, you’ll pay a little more. But you’ll get way more than you paid for!  That’s my promise.  I’m a pro and I guarantee it.

720.982.9237 | KennethWajda.com

I Am a Film Photographer

PORTRAITS ON FILM – What’s the difference?

I am proud to be known as a Film Photographer. It’s my passion and what sets me apart from most photographers.

Why use film when digital is so much easier? Who said art has to be easy? And why is easy better?

IT’S ABOUT MAGIC

I shoot film because it’s a little bit dreamy, a little bit romantic, a little bit grainy, a little bit soft, a little bit magical—like a memory. It really is. It’s not completely literal, like digital.

Digital is perfectly sharp and clear, but like a CD is to a real vinyl record, it doesn’t have the same soulfulness, the warmth.

It’s the difference between a home-cooked meal and a microwave dinner. One is simply more satisfying.

Film is something you feel. When you see a portrait made on film, you may not even know why you like it, but you feel it. It’s that’s powerful. It’s emotional. It’s truth.

It’s not Photoshop tricks or Instagram filters. It’s simply truthful.

It’s the difference between portraits of movie stars in the 1960s and 1970s versus today. That difference is film!

When you want a little bit of that magic, and demand the very best for your family, schedule a genuine film portrait.

Seniors too, both the high school kind and your parents or grandparents!

As an award-winning staff photojournalist for 15 years with a major daily newspaper, I worked everyday to draw out personalities, to tell a story with a photograph. To capture emotion worthy of a feature page cover!

SPOILER AHEAD

The best images are not made with the most expensive camera, bursting with a thousand shots “spraying and praying”. It’s not about the camera at all, but the result of a genuine connection between subject and photographer—an ease, a comfort which shows in the image. (The magic isn’t in the camera, it’s in you, captured on real film!)

I shoot in studio, or at your location. Whichever best serves you.

Because, it’s all about you and your family. For a truly special photograph that will be shared and passed down for generations, choose film.

You’ll feel the difference when the photograph—a magical, artistic image of your family—is displayed in your home. Your guests will see the difference, as it won’t be like any others.

See my other film portraits at http://kennethwajda.com/kennethwajdafilmportraitist.htm

CALL TO SCHEDULE
Please call 720.982.9237 to schedule your film portrait session. Sessions start at $325 and include print packages. Traditional silver and canvas prints are available.

NOTE: I’m usually booked about three weeks out, but if you have a parent or child visiting and need to work on a specific timetable, I will work with you to make the photograph!

If you are outside of Colorado, still contact me as I travel across the U.S. for commercial clients and may be able to make some time work for you, too.

The Joy of Family (Pictures)

This is why I shoot Elderly Photo Visits.  It gives me the chance to preserve memories that will last long after our parents and grandparents are gone.  And will be cherished by generations to come.

I printed this photo and gave it to several family members in frames I picked up at Goodwill (50% off sale today, yay), because without printing our photos, they really don’t exist.  So, print your photos.  Frame them and live with the memories in your home.

Photograph Your Love, Share Your Passion

As a photographer, there’s nothing else that matters, no one else who gets to decide what is important, other than that which is important to you.  Photography is a creative expression, and when we stop looking to create images that will please others, and actually create images that please ourselves, that reveal a little something about how we see the world, only then is the art realized, and we give the viewer a glimpse into our soul.

I can tell you, as a filmmaker, how many Tarantino wannabees I see out there.  We don’t need another one of him–we have him.  (And one of him is too much for me–I think he’s ultra-violent and sits on that one note too long.)

But as photographers, what we need is to show a side of ourselves that reveals our truth.  Then, we have created art.  Dare to show something that reveals you.

It’s easy to say what you don’t like.

I hate this, I hate that.  You didn’t tell us anything about you.

I like that. 

You like that–what are you a freak, liking that?  Saying what you like tells us a bit about you.

So does what you photograph.

So, photograph your passion.  Stand by what are your favorite images, because they define you, and after we are all long gone, they will be what survive to tell the story of who we were.

Mine is the story of connections in families.  That’s my passion–to document the small stories that make up great lives.

See http://ElderlyPhotoVisits.com and http://TheWisePhotoProject.com for more.

Creating Stunning Portraits That Capture a Person’s Light

Made with a Rolleiflex T twin-lens reflex camera on the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder, Colorado, it’s a moment captured on film that has a feeling all its own.  And very few of the digital photos being taken today will last 50 years, like this will.  Because this negative is physical–I can hold it in my hand.

She was working across the outdoor mall at a store, and saw my Rolleiflex, and came over, explaining that she’s a Rolleiflex shooter as well.

I am a proponent of legacy portraits on film, and this right here, is why.  Printed in a real darkroom on photographic paper, 12×12 framed, this is a stunning portrait for any room of the house.

With Her Parents: Savoring Scenes from the Movie of a Life

It’s a feeling.  I suppose, you either feel it or you don’t.  I certainly do.  There’s a magic in that silver, I tell you.  Now there’s a Tri-X negative in a sleeve that exists with that image.  And there is a print of each photograph in a frame, to savor those moments.

Because photography wasn’t meant to be for an instant to share, to check out on the back of a camera screen, or to post once on Facebook then bury, and be done with.  It was meant to save memories.  At least for me.

Film, printed and framed, does that for me.  Unlike anything else available.  Surrounding me in my house and office.  Changing frames out with different memories.  But all real, no electricity needed.

Because I intend to make photograph for the ages, not just for today.

Subject Matter: The Subject Matters

If you want more interesting photos, shoot more interesting subjects.  (And shoot on film.)

There’s a special beauty to having a special beauty in your life to have to photograph.  This is mine.

Having willing family members and friends makes all the difference, much more than camera equipment.

The first two were made with a Praktica FX and 50mm lens, the second two with a Leica M6 with a 35mm lens.