Welcome to my first blog post! I am currently enrolled in a social communications class that is pushing me out of my comfort zone and creating a lot of firsts for me in the social media world! I’ve always been a person who loves to share stories and experiences with others, I just haven’t shared with the online community before, so here we go.
In addition to being a graphic designer, I also own a small photography business with my wife (I somehow missed this part of my life in the video selfie, nerves I suppose). We call ourselves the Conn-Artists, which is a play on our last name and encompasses both of our careers (graphic designer and art teacher). We’re going on our fifth year and are busier than ever. We photograph anything from newborns to weddings to dogs!
It’s been quite a journey learning the trade as well as running the business side of things. Like most things in life there are struggles and successes. We’ve had our fair share of both. But somewhere in-between, you find these unplanned moments that erase any struggle you’ve experienced, and motivate you to keep moving forward. One of those moments for us happened mid-winter during our second year of shooting.
The idea is we would have Myla (the cute one with red hair) walk towards the camera while her parents stand proudly in the background (as the picture on the left clearly indicates). What we didn’t plan for was Myla stumbling and potentially face planting on the asphalt. By the way, she landed gracefully and avoided tears.
To make this picture happen we needed 3 things out of our control to take place.
1. Myla to fall (which sounds terrible, I know)
2. Mom to give us a natural reaction
3. The focus point to shift from Myla to Mom
Myla’s head dropped just enough that the focus point moved from her to mom, which allowed all of us to enjoy an 'in the moment' facial expression. Had Myla still be in focus, we wouldn’t be able to make out moms face and we would just have a slowly falling child.
Three years later this photo still makes us smile and turned a completely average photo-shoot into one we'll never forget. Try to enjoy life's unplanned moments, you never know when one will happen next!
Jason Connelly
PS - This experience also gave us the idea to collect all of our blooper pictures throughout the year and make a slide show for everyone to enjoy. Here's last year's blooper real, enjoy!
Thank you!