This week, Bob Coates told us about Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep, an organization that captures life’s most precious moments. Mykii Liu gave us a great Windows-based alternative to the MacBook Pro, while Bryan Esler gave us best business and photography practices when preparing for Coronavirus. Julie Powell walked us through still life photography, and finally, Lauri Novak told us about the great cause that is Special Kids Photography of America.
Capturing life at its most delicate moments: Becoming a NILMDTS photographer - When tragedy befalls a family through infant loss there is an opportunity to give an amazing gift. To the family — and yourself. The gift to the family is remembrance portraits to help in their time of grief. The gift to you is in the giving. This can be some of the most meaningful work you ever do. What is Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep? NILMDTS provides professional portrait photography to families who are suffering the loss of an infant newborn. If you are like me, when you first hear about the NILMDTS mission you say, “There’s no way I could do that.” Hopefully, like me, you’ll give it a try and find how truly rewarding doing this work can be. I have been with the NILMDTS organization since 2006 as a photographer, trainer and served as a board member for two years. What is the need for volunteers? There are about 20,000 stillbirths in the U.S. alone every year. Right now NILMDTS serves about 5,000 of those families. There’s a huge gap in what services NILMDTS is able to cover. You can help even if it is a single family. Chat with Ali Alison Furtwangler came to NILMDTS after receiving photos in 2011 of her firstborn son. “After receiving the gift I became a community volunteer,” shared Ali. “From there I continued helping in various ways, and then finally, decided I needed to go and be a photographer. “I got into photography because of the impact of these photos and how profound it was on me. I left a career in auditing. I became the NILMDTS Volunteer program manager. I’m now an affiliate photographer as well.” But what about those who think they might be uncomfortable performing this work? “We have many people say that they’re too emotional and they can’t do this. But when you get in there behind your camera, you get into photographer mode. You never know what you can do until you try,” said Ali. How to get started Photographers can get started by filling out an application and submitting five images. “We ask them to submit their best work. Their portfolio does not have to be a newborn or baby portraits. Work that shows off their lighting and technical skills is what NILMDTS are looking for. “After the application process, they get approved and go into training, which is an online format with videos and text. Following training on how to conduct themselves in the session and what we expect of the standard gift, then they are able to go out to provide services to families.” Chat with Melanie Melanie Roger is another volunteer and she shares her story. “I became a volunteer through the assistant to photographer position. I wasn’t sure I had the skills and didn’t know if I could do it. Ali talked me into applying as an assistant. I ended up going on my first session. I didn’t feel right after I went. I decided I couldn’t do it.” Melanie continued, “I started dispatching photographers and became an area coordinator for the Seattle team. Six months after I went on my first session, I decided to try again. The second session gave me more confidence in how I could handle the after part when you leave the hospital. “The long and short is you go in and meet the family. You take pictures of them. That’s it. That’s where the door closes. You have to remember that it’s not your story. You are there to tell someone else’s story. No matter what personal experience that you have with loss it’s not about you.” Melanie concludes, “The amazing thing is it’s about them and giving a gift that they’ll remember for the rest of their lives.” Yours in Creative Photography, Bob Lead photo courtesy of Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep. Photographer: Megan Toohey
Acer’s ConceptD 7 gives Windows users a powerful Mac alternative - Acer has been stepping up their game by entering a slew of options for digital creators to their line of gaming laptops. The ConceptD 7 is one of their 15″ variants that boasts some screaming hardware and a 4K screen geared toward accurate color. At a price point that’s competitive with a 15″ MacBook Pro, perhaps you’ll find yourself comfortable in this new ConceptD 7. In terms of raw specs, the ConceptD 7 15″ model in its base from is quite impressive and shares core hardware specs with many of its competitors. The difference lies in the 4K panel that runs in the AdobeRGB color space and is Pantone Validated. At the current moment, it look like only Acer and Asus are the two brands that have laptop models being validated by Pantone in this color space, so that helps set this laptop apart for all of us in the photo/video/graphic design side of the computer user spectrum. There are two configurations to be had with the ConceptD 7, and the one I’ve got with me was sent from the wonderful people at B and H. You can get yours too for $2299. It’s outfitted with the following hardware specs and selection of I/O: 2.6 GHz Intel Core i7-9750H Six-Core Processor 16GB DDR4 1TB NVMe PCIe M. 2 SSD (WD SN750 OEM) Pantone validated 100% AdobeRGB/100% sRGB 15.6″ 3840 x 2160 4K IPS Display NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 (6GB GDDR6) 1x HDMI 2.0 Port 1x Thunderbolt 3 port 3x USB-A ports 1x Mini DisplayPort 1.4 Killer E3000 Ethernet Controller Killer Wireless-AC 1550 Webcam Waves MaxxAudio sound processor and speakers Microphone, Speakers and line in and out jacks. If you need something more powerful, you can opt for the higher end option that comes with the same processor, same assortment of ports but is equipped with 32GB of RAM and a RTX 2080 Max-Q with 8GB of RAM. If you’re feeling the need for greater speed, you can opt for the ConceptD 7 Pro which includes the same processor and ports, but includes 32GB of RAM, 2x1TB SSD and a Quadro RTX 5000 with 16GB of RAM, all in the same slim chassis. The chassis and exterior Acer’s ConceptD 7 shares its chassis with Acer’s own Predator Triton 500 found in the their gaming line, with the differences being found in the color of the shell and some specifics of the hardware. The Triton 500 has a more calm black shell that I favor more than the ConceptD 7’s white shell, but also has obnoxious logos that the ConceptD 7 forgoes. I don’t know if it is just the unit that I got or not, but the ConceptD logo looks ever so slightly crooked above the vent. It’s only sort of bothering me. The white shell definitely gets a little dingy with some use, and the keyboard keys get a little darker and shiner a bit easier than I’d personally expect from laptops. The keys have a bit of texture, which is often times welcomed, but every now and then, it clashes with a fingernail or thumbnail and feels like it could be scratched pretty easily. Typing on the keyboard is quite enjoyable. If you’re not a big fan of the shallow MacBook Pro keyboards, you’ll probably favor this quite a bit. While I’m rather used to the keyboard of the “flawed” MacBook and am one of the few that enjoy it without any issues (I tend not to eat over my keys and have a cloth that goes over the keyboard when not in use), I don’t find anything that I can complain about when actually typing on the keyboard. The layout of the keyboard is something I’m particularly not used to on a laptop — specifically referring to the extra row of keys on the right side of the laptop. I find myself jabbing the Home key in place of the Backspace key pretty often, but that’s just me and I’m just special, so I think most people would be OK with the keys. The layout of this keyboard is still preferred over the keyboard of the current generation Razer Blade 15″ though — the Up key is between the right shift key and the ? key. The keyboard lights up with a nice amber backlight. I find it quite calming, but also strangely alarming and slightly reminiscent of the old amber backlight for some LED clocks and watches or even side-markers of a car. It is evenly lit for the most part, with only the space bar and the right control key having blacked out areas — super-nitpicky, but some really enjoy looking at keys that are uniformly lit. Compare this type of light-bleed to the individual LEDS found in the Razer Blade and Apple’s MacBook Pro and you’ll see the difference. Even Acer’s own keyboard in the Triton 500 outshines and is more even than this one. In the dark, the wonderful 4K screen can get overly bright, but of course, that becomes well needed and appreciated in bright environments. It’s easy to open, but the lid itself is a bit flexible. The display twists a little and can be pushed in from the outside. I’d always recommend facing the display away from your body when placing laptops into backpacks and shoulder bags to prevent screen damage and keyboard imprinting, and I’d believe this unit is no exception to that kind of damage. Besides that, it is clear and super sharp. Viewing angles are pretty good as well. The matte screen does a great job reducing glare, making it so much clearer to see what you’re working on. The trackpad is loud-clicky, which some prefer. It’s a springboard type, which I find frustrating after being spoiled by Apple for so long, but it’s smooth and responsive when sliding your fingers across or when tapping to click. A two finger click or tap invokes the right click menu as easily as clicking on the bottom right of the
How to prepare for Coronavirus as a photographer - As a photographer, how can you be best prepared for dealing with Coronavirus? Learn what precautions to take and how to best handle client questions.
What is considered still life? - Most people believe that still life is just flowers and kitchen stuff, but it’s much more than that. It’s true that I photograph a lot of flowers and I have a real penchant for vintage kitchenware, but that is not all there is to still life. Look for the masculine I teach a LOT of still life classes, and true we often work with flowers and kitchenware, but I adore it when men come to the class and want to work with more masculine items. Working with masculine props can be very enjoyable too. With a collection of gauges and industrial fittings, not very old, but interesting to photograph, one can obtain quite a juxtaposition with industrial elements and flowers. One gentleman who attended a class proceeded to go home and look through his shed. He made the most amazing still life with old oil cans, woodworking and welding tools. I opened his eyes to the world of still life — it’s a humbling, yet gratifying experience. Look for the unusual Looking for the more unusual items from everyday life that can make the most amazing still life photos. Old camera equipment, electric fans, old tools. Things that may have once been used in everyday life, but now are considered relics. Old tools from the back of the shed or even Granddad’s shed. Have you ever spent an afternoon with a few bits of cutlery to see what you can create? Books, skeletons and bones, strange and exotic fruits. Old technology can be fun too. The list really is endless. Look for the mundane Still life general refers to a still photo of objects seen and used in everyday life. This possibly accounts for all the flowers and kitchenware — we see and use them every day. Early still life painters used to capture beautiful paintings of breakfast scenes, or meal preparation scenes, as well as vase overfilled with exotic flowers. But they also looked for mundane everyday items as well. Tools, from spinning wheels to hay scythes. Nothing was out of reach. Today it should be no different. I have taken beautiful images of an apple or tomato. Cutlery, eggs or even a wooden clothes peg can be made into something visually appealing. An old (unused) birds nest, discarded feathers, pine cones, seashells … need I go on? Look for unique angles Just because your object may be mundane, it does not mean your image needs to be. Simple, sure. Simple is good, but that does not make it mundane. Look at angles, lighting, styling, composition and color. These are what makes a still life appealing. Tell a story Often some of the best still life tells a story. It could be as simple “this is what I had for breakfast” or “these are the tools my grandfather built this house with.” They can be powerful and emotive and elevate a simple object into so much more.
Special Kids Photography of America: Photographing children with special needs - A few years ago while wandering the show floor at WPPI, I came across the Special Kids Photography of America booth. They had images of special needs children displayed. Having a special needs stepson myself, I stopped in to chat with them about what they do not once, but twice. Both times I left their booth both times with tears in my eyes. What is Special Kids Photography of America? SKPA’s purpose is to educate professional photographers and train them to be comfortable with photographing special needs children. They have books and tools available on their website and also have workshops that offer accreditation. The training goes far beyond general portrait photography. It helps photographers understand the characteristics of commonly-encountered disorders. SKPA teaches photographers how to communicate with both children and parents. They are taught what the preferred terminology is. Photographers learn how to handle medical conditions. The best ways to pose children with physical disabilities. How to use props, sounds and attention-getters to get great images. Once a photographer is accredited they can be listed on the SKPA website which is a resource for families looking for photographers who are specialized in working with special needs children. Who makes up Special Kids Photography of America? Karen Dorame is the mastermind behind this company. She’s also an artist in her own right and has written a few photography books. It all started when her daughter took her severely disabled son to get a professional portrait taken. The photographer refused to take photos of him. I can’t even imagine how that felt. Nor can I imagine a photographer doing that. So, from that horrible experience, Special Kids Photography of America was born in 1998. They have been a nonprofit organization since 2000. “I never wanted another parent of a special needs child to go through that and to be made to feel less than,” Karen said. Why teach photographers how to photograph special needs kids? If you’ve ever been around a child with any sort of special needs, whether it’s Autism, Down’s Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy or any other physical or mental disorder, you’ll know that they all react differently. They all have unique ways of communicating and interacting with people. This is a unique market for photography. Karen said they have heard over and over how parents give up on hiring a photographer because they won’t work with their children. They become discouraged by photographers who do not understand how to work with special needs children. Many parents either give up or are disappointed with the results. “We help photographers learn how to work with the children and parents no matter the situation,” she said. “You don’t always know how long you have to capture these moments and create memories for families with special needs children.” I could go on and on about what a wonderful business this is, and what huge hearts Karen and her team have. For more detailed information on what they do and the education they provide, please check out their website. Who knows — maybe you’ll be moved and inspired to become accredited. As someone who has a special needs stepson, this all just hit home for me! While he is 30 now, I could relate to what struggles photographers may have when photographing special needs children.
