Boys of Summer … Asheville fine art photography

The boys of summer…what a nice, warm thought as I sit here in my chilly office, portable heater blowing, with ice and snow covering the roads outside. I thought, why not start off a new year of fine art photography with a glimpse of the warmer days awaiting us.

I’m really excited that our fine art photography group through The Bloom Forum is continuing on. But starting another year for me was more than just continuing what was done in the past. As new years go, I’ve spent the last few weeks trying to figure out what I want to do with photography, what I like, what I hate, what’s frustrating me to no end. After staring at my computer screen and scrolling through countless webpages wondering how one photographer did this or why that photographer won that, I felt drained and worthless. The “weekly favorite” contest on numerous Facebook photography pages didn’t help. Why didn’t they pick my submission? Why is hers better than mine? What am I doing wrong? As a photographer, or any artist, it’s so easy to get trapped in that never-ending cycle of “am I good enough?” After spending an afternoon surfing through photos trying to find another to submit to a weekly favorite contest, it hit me. Why am I doing this? I’m seeking approval from the lone admin of a Facebook photography page. This admin is probably one photographer sitting in front of her computer picking her favorites. That’s it. But I’m putting everything I’ve worked for into the hands of this one admin. Will she like me?

Finally, finally, I thought, this is enough. What am I doing? Why am I doing this for “her” and not me? No more. It was time to really consider what I love, what I want to create. That’s what art is really about.

I do love photographing families through my business. But let’s face it…there are a lot of us out there and by “us” I mean photographers. What used to be unique in the portraiture business of “photographing kids as they are – running, playing, etc.,” is now trendy and everywhere. Every photographer shoots in that style. It seems that making yourself stand out now is more about building relationships with clients than taking a prettier picture. So with that, I knew in order to continue on in this business AND keep my sanity, I had to find what makes ME happy and cultivate that on the side.

I’ve always loved Norman Rockwell paintings. He had a way of making the ordinary look beautiful. I wanted to live in the images he created. Things seemed so quirky and happy. I love capturing similar images of everyday life with photography and had been doing it for the past few years. But I’d done nothing with those images. They’ve sat on my computer useless…until now. I decided this would be a fun project…find my favorite images of ordinary life and edit them in a Norman Rockwell-ish style. And after this long, rambling blog post (sorry fine art group!), this is where we are.

My first post is featuring a few photos from my son’s little league team last spring. I love their expressions, innocence and the different body types at that age! Huge and tiny! And I love how it’s just a typical day in a typical town of little boys having fun. So here’s a bit of the boys of summer and photos I love to take. More “ordinary images” to come…

fine art photography photo of little league baseball