Apparently there is something in my family's blood that makes us all interested in photography. I remember as a small boy that my father would constantly take pictures and he would even develop some of them in our apartment in Brooklyn. Even as a young boy, I remember asking my dad to teach me about photography but I was always quickly intimidated with all of the information he would throw at me and my pictures were always awful. They looked as if a chimpanzee had tried to eat the camera and accidentally hit the shutter button. In all of my pictures, the lens was covered in fingerprints, saliva and hair.
I never lost the interest in visual arts though. I just had to change what my preferred method of expression was. I was more adept with the brush and canvas than I was with a Minolta and film. Someone once described painting as being all about what you include, while photography was all about what you exclude. (BTW, I know I butchered that quote, so if you know who said it and what the original quote is, please let me know.)
In my late 20's I had the great fortune of befriending one of the World's most gifted photographers, Yousef Khanfar. It was in Yousef's first book "Voices of Light" that I rediscovered my want to capture a frame in time. I didn't want to just get the moment, but be able to share a certain perspective as well. Yousef's advice even before I picked up a camera allowed me to study photography and appreciate everything the art was capable of.
Fast forward 10 years and someone's financial misfortune allowed me to acquire a very good camera at an unbelievably affordable price. Suddenly, my photography was limited by my own inexperience or inability to get on film what I wanted and not by my camera. Armed with my Nikon D700, I was ready to take on the world. Then I started to see other people's photography and what they were doing and I felt like the fat guy that just joined the gym.
I have recently reconnected with a few distant cousins and they are also into photography. As I mentioned in my opening statement, it seems that a passion for photography runs in the blood. Looking at their photography has left me thinking that although I am in the beginning of my journey, that through practice maybe my work can stand up to theirs. After all, we all came from some common ancestor and there has to be something in our DNA that drew us all to a shared hobby (or profession).
I share with you all their work. Please feel free to compliment it (if you have Flickr accounts) or add them to your contact list. If you live in Sweden and you are looking for a wedding photographer, I recommend Erik Candray. Just let him know that you were led to him through me.
Thanks all and I will C U @ a show,
AC3
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