The ancient Egyptians choose the form of the pyramid to build everlasting monuments to themselves on the plateau of Giza.
Today, these monuments still stand and are considered to be among the seven wonders of the ancient world. Modern photographers often look to them for inspiration and have found in them a form that endures the ages. Portrait photographers often pose their subjects in a pyramid form in order to accomplish two objects, namely to fit everyone in the frame while still maintaining visual interest in the portrait.

Recently, Tim Vansant shared an old family snapshot taken years ago on his grandmother’s 75th birthday. What a great thing is it to have a snapshot of his grandmother, mother, and brothers and sisters to record such an auspicious occasion. The picture not only records that moment, but through the period dress of the subjects and background decor, the viewer of the photograph is transported back in time to epoch in which when the picture was taken.

Just as the Pyramids of Giza hold hidden treasures and stores of memories, so too does Tim’s family portrait. If you have a sharp eye, you will discover some hidden gems in the photograph which will help you to improve your own photography skills. For example, subjects 2, 4 and 5 seem to be looking off to the right, while subjects 1, 2, 3, 6 and 7 are looking straight at the camera. In composing your photographs, try to engage everyone so that they are facing the same direction. (Tim doesn’t remember exactly what was going on, but he thinks it was probably his uncle distracting some of the people.)

Another hidden gem in this portrait is in the backdrop. It looks like everyone is gathered around Grandma’s chair. As a result, there is some furniture and papers present around the edges of the pictures. If time permits, and your models are willing to wait a few extra minutes, try to clear the area of debris and unused furniture. This eliminates anything that might detract for the people who are being photographed.

One final suggestion would be to add more light. An expensive lighting kit isn’t necessary. In an improv situation where the flash on the camera is insufficient, create some temporary studio lighting by taking a lamp and point the top of it (where the light comes out of the lampshade) towards the group. You may need to experiment a little, holding the light above the group, shining down on them, or bouncing the light off an adjacent wall so that it reflects onto them. You must take care not to create new shadows

I am very grateful that Tim was gracious enough to share this photograph with us for critique here. I hope you will find inspiration in this article to go out and create your own photo family memory (another great pyramid) while taking portraits of your loved ones.

If you have a photograph that you would like me to analyze, praise or otherwise talk up, and you think it would be useful to teach or inspire other people to create their own photo family memories, please send it to me at texaiano - at - gmail - dot - com. You can also start the ball rolling by dropping me a note.

Now, go enjoy your family and make the world a better place by working on some photo family memories of your own.

Your Fellow “Creative Genius ” ,
Texaiano

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The United States just celebrated her 231st birthday, the anniversary of the date that the United States declared her independence from King George of Great Britain. To commemorate the event, my family and I attended two Fourth of July fireworks displays. The first one was put on my our hometown fathers this weekend. We have been receiving record rain fall so the day’s events (concert, amusement park, etc) was cut short. We weren’t entirely sure that the city would do the fireworks display, so we arrived at the park sometime around dark (about 21:15hs). There were already people gathering, so we figured it was a good shot chance that the first firecracker would be set off soon. Let me give you a quick recap of how it went:

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21:15
Child 1 - Dad. When is it going to start?
Child 2 - Daddy, hold me.
Child 3 - I can’t see anything.
Me - Be patient
My Wife - Get a blanket and go set down on that hill over there so you can see it when they start.

21:20
Child 1 - This is dumb! Nothing is happening!
Child 2 - Daddy, I’m bored.
Child 3 - I’m hungry.

21:30
Me - It should start soon.
Child 1 - This is dumb! I’m bored!
Child 2 - Daddy, hold me.

21:35
Me - Look! I just saw one!
All Children - Where?!?!
Me - Over there. By that tree.

21:40
Child 1 - This is dumb! I didn’t see it and nothing is happening. I want to go home. This is boring!!
Child 3 - I’m hungry
Mom - Here, have a goldfish cracker.

21:45
Child 1 - Daa-DEE! I hate this. I’m bored and the dumb bugs are biting me. Nothing IS happening. I don’t like it here. I want to go home.
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Get the picture? It was a real pleasant experience - NOT! That is, until about 22:10, when they finally did start the fireworks display. Then, child one said “Now, this is more like it. This is what I came to see.” Child 2 came to stand by me and child 1, and child 3 stood inside of the car next to her mother watching the fireworks. Ah finally! All of the children were finally united in purpose with their parents and were enjoying the fireworks display. Through out the experience, I learned that patience pays off in the long run. We were able to enjoy a 30 minute long colorful pyrotechnic tribute to our homeland, as the “rockets red glare and bombs bursting in air” truely “gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.”

Aside from learning that patience pays off in the end, there was another lesson that I learned at the city’s Fourth of July fireworks exhibition.

We were parked in front of a group of Chicanos. They could have been from Puerto Rico, Spain or Central or South America, but chances are that they were Mexicans. The whole time we were waiting, they were chatting and laughing in Spanish and I was beginning to get very offended. After all, we were there to celebrate the birthday of our great (English speaking) nation, yet they were insistent upon speaking their own (foreign) language. “How rude!” I thought to myself, remembering the rule that I myself followed while I lived in Brazil which stated that it was rude to speak your native language while in the presence of those who didn’t understand it, even when amongst one’s own group. Not only could most people around me (presumably) not understand Spanish, but with all of the recent immigration debates in Congress and local controversy over the adoption of English as the official language of the neighboring city Farmer’s Branch, it especially insensitive to do this at an event meant to celebrate the United States. I managed to repress my disdain throughout all of the pyrotechnics and was getting ready to leave after the finally when I heard something surprising coming from the Chicano’s side of the street. They started chanting “U.S.A.! U.S.A.!” (futebol style) I must say that I was rather embarrassed for having taken offense to the group’s choice of languages.

Tonight was actually July 4th (United States Independence Day) and there was another fireworks display in a community right down the road from here. The turnout for that event was enormous and represented all walks of life. There were people from the rich side of town, and people from the apartments near the park where the display was held. There was tall, short, fat and skinny, but everyone there was an American….or at least an American at heart. To illustrate my point…we were parked behind a family who looked Chinese, and as we were leaving the parking lot, we passed Chicanos, Indians and Muslims. Yes, people of every kind turned out to celebrate the birth of our great nation. Some of the people might be perceived by some shortsighted patriots as our enemies. Some of the citizenry might take offense to some of those in attendance because of their frustrations with recent political developments. Nonetheless, when all is said and done, everyone in attendance tonight was there for the same reason…to celebrate our country…to celebrate being Americans.

I consider myself to be an open minded and thoughtful person. I speak four languages, and have traveled outside of my country. I have many friends from diverse corners of the world, carefully follow many political issues, and yet, despite all that, even I, as illustrated above, can fall into the trap of not trusting others based solely on how they talk. With all they struggles going on in the world, the same spirit that made this country strong requires us all to remember that “United we stand and divided we fall.”

May we all be united in our families and communities so that we can be strong as a country living peaceably in the world.

-Texaiano

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