April 28, 2008 by Amy

Playing at the Park

Saturday afternoon we took advantage of the gorgeous weather and stopped by the park on the way to our weekly run at Sam’s.

Zoe had fun playing. Mommy had fun making photographs of Zoe playing.

I can’t tell you how good it felt to make images without a 400-pound flash offsetting the balance of my camera. Not that I don’t love the flash. I do. It’s made hundreds of images possible for me. But being able to go outside and shoot in natural light, without the flash…it’s liberating. Felt like I did the day I got the damn boot off my broken foot. “Oh, yeah. This is what it’s like to be able to move.”

Some of these images, I just adore. The black and white ones. Threw the color ones in because they’re sure-fire crowd pleasers. The BW ones are for me, though.

Waiting for a swing to open up.
I love the fact that she’s not impatient, but instead just looks forward to her turn. What a great way to go through life.

I didn’t mean to cut M’s head off in this one…it’s what happens when you’re holding a big DSLR over your head in an attempt to catch the sheer joy on your daughter’s face because she’s at the park on a beautiful day and her daddy is pushing her in a swing. I’d normally discard this because of M’s missing head (his head being quite attractive and normally something I like to include), but the look on Zozer’s face is priceless, and so headless M shall just have to be.

Wheeeeeeee!

These last four are for me. And her daddy.

This last one…this is it for me. My favorite image from the whole weekend. The icing on the cake. Total grab shot. The culmination of years of having other photographers chant “f8 and be there” religiously, and my brain somehow absorbing that and being ready. For me, it doesn’t get much better than this.