Grandpa Glen

I was inspired recently by another photographer. In his blog, Zack tells of the loss a family member and shares some thoughts about capturing pictures while you can. Time passes so fast it makes a person wonder where it went. For me I travel every week, which leaves little time for the family let alone taking pictures of them.

Glen, my father-in-law, used to live 2 blocks away, which guaranteed I'd see him every weekend. When his bride of 50 years passed away he moved to another town about 30 minutes away. My wife (his daughter) gets to see him every Wednesday when she takes him home from Bible study, but I rarely get to see him anymore. Today, however, was different. I am off this week and got to spend a day with him.

You can't help but love Glen. He seems to know everyone and is a joy to be with, but he's getting up there in years. Zack's blog got me thinking about how I photograph people outside of my family more than my own. Could it be I unconsciously place my family second because I don't get paid to photograph them? Or maybe it's the fact they clown around and make silly faces when I'm trying to do serious work.

Silly faces during family portraits used to frustrate me to no end, then Nancy's mother died. When I began putting family pictures together for the memorial I began to realize how special these silly faces were. At the time I took the photos I was livid, but putting them together for the funeral brought great joy and laughter.

With all this in mind I decided to take more pictures of the family. Today, when we picked up Glen from Bible study, I asked him if I could take a few pictures and he agreed. Here’s a few shots from our impromptu session.

Here's Glen at his Church


Glen, his daughter Nancy and her daughter Dani


Grandpa with Dani and there's Cooper, what a faithful companion.



Visit my wife blog (The Olive Leaf Ministries) to see more photo's and see whats happening on her blog.

If you are a photographer and want to learn a little bit about using off camera flash check out Zacks blog. Zach recently created a OneLight DVD