As a photographer, during any given week, I find myself photographing a variety of subjects.  This week, the work included doing setups and shooting interior and exterior shots of our home for advertising, selecting photographs for "A Taos Wedding:  the bridal guide for northern New Mexico" published by the Taos News, photographing a Navajo-Churro rug, and capturing the rhythm of the National Cemetery in Santa Fe.  Each of these areas presents pleasures and challenges.

We began the week by attending an interment at the National Cemetery in Santa Fe on Monday.   It was a sad, sobering, and thought-provoking occasion for a young father of two, husband, and a veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan whose life ended far too soon.  He was well-loved, and his family, friends, and co-workers came from far and wide to give him a dignified and beautiful salute.  It would have been totally inappropriate to photograph the event, but my father is also buried at the National Cemetery, so Fred and I found his grave and headstone.  I was delighted to see this sacred space so well kept and cared for, and the measurements between the graves and rows done with such preciseness.  Here is an image showing that.

Santa Fe National Cemetery

Later in the week, I received an email concerning the upcoming Taos Wedding Guide.  It is always fun for me to go through the wedding photographs I have shot in any given year or in years past and choose several that might be effective additions to the guide.  Here is one from the wedding I shot in October.

boot and flowers  

I spent a morning "staging" our house for some advertising shots.  Not being a home photographer per se, I worked with what my equipment would allow such as using lights to fill dark spaces, adding accessories including rugs, flowers, and food, shooting from different angles, moving furniture, etc.  It made me appreciate some of the excellent interiors that other professional photographers shoot.

When Fred got the weaving bug and first started to weave Navajo-Churro rugs, I knew he would be doing this for the rest of his life and would need a portfolio of his work.  Every piece he has woven has been photographed, with dimensions, colors used, date the piece was made, and the owner's name and location.  Not until recently did I have anywhere near the type of equipment necessary to achieve the proper light and color balance, but I am getting there. His latest rug, #292, is below.

Rug 292

The week begins as I adventure forth with camera in hand.  I hope you have time and opportunity to do the same.

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the [email protected]