My passion for Photography
For the past 11 years, I have spent time in the summer at Camp Merri-Mac and Camp Timberlake, in Marion and Black Mountain NC. I have a long history with these camps, fell in love with them in my 20s. My kids have been coming to camp for 11 years.
I have a passion for any kind of photography and love taking photos of kids. But I especially love taking photos of kids having the time of their lives at camp. And I also love to give their parents a view into their kid's camp world.
As a mom, I understand wanting to see how my child is doing when they are at camp. I know they are good or I would get a phone call, but in this online world, we as parents...are spoiled. I am just as spoiled as any other parent that does not get to go to camp with their kids. I still want the photos! When my son is at camp and I am not... I hit the refresh button... waiting on the daily photos... just like everyone else.
So when I am working at camp, I take all photos with camper's parents in mind. I can't help it. It is just in my blood. It's the mom in me, and it makes me so happy. So when I go to camp to take photos I don't mind the 14 hour days, because it is fun.
Camp Timberlake moved to a new location this summer, 30 mins or so from the girl's camp and property they have been on since 1983. This new property is beautiful. Rolling hills, mountains in the distance and a big sky of beautiful clouds. So many places to take photos that are just simply... magical, hard to take a bad photo.
This summer I shot only at Camp Timberlake. This was the first year I was not also taking photos of the girls at Camp Merri-Mac. Boys are a lot different than the girls when it comes to taking photos. Girls beg you to take their photo all day. Boys make it a little harder. It's rare for the boys to ask me to take their photo, but when they do... I always say yes. Most of the time I have to catch them in action.
It truly makes me happy to take a photo of someone's camper. I know that camper's parent is hitting the refresh button and when they see a cool photo of their camper having a great time, I know that parent is happy too.
I guess you could say I am a 'stalker" photographer at camp. I love to use my 70-300 lens and get the shots that show what the campers are actually doing. Not all smiling faces... I want to see emotion. I want that parent that is worried that their child is nervous or not having fun to see a photo of him naturally having a great time.
No one is asking these campers to smile, these guys are just having the time of their lives. This is what I thrive to capture.
My goal is to tell the parents their campers story through photos. We try hard to get photos of all the campers daily. Some kids are in front of the camera more than others and that can be a challenge. But I can promise I try.
I will ask a camper to smile, but only if the time is right. But mostly, I love just waiting on them to laugh or smile on their own. That is where my "stalking" comes in handy. Let me restate that, they know I am there... I am not hiding in the bushes dressed in green... I am in plain sight, and they know I am snapping away like crazy. They get used to me, but sometimes they will see me scanning my camera around and they will wait and smile at me. I always snap a photo when that happens.
I love to shoot the campers playing sports. I usually watch the game through my lens being careful not to get too close to the competitive boys, as I have been hit by the ball... twice now. As long as my camera is safe, I don't mind, it means I'm in right in the middle of the action. I do have a big problem of taking too many photos. What I mean by problem, is I am up later editing or the photos don't get posted on time. I will easily take 500 to 800 photos in one activity. Of course they all wont get posted, no one will ever see the bad photos and there are plenty of bad one when I take that many.
This photo was taken around 8:30 at night, on Spyglass hill. It had been a long day. We start at 7:15 a.m. and we are pretty much on GO the entire day. If we are not shooting photos, we are editing photos. I almost didn't go here this night. Stephen, my partner in photography and much younger than me, took off running up this steep mini mountain. I stopped halfway there, turned around and was just about to let Shephen take the photos alone. But... the idea of getting a really cool photo, made me carry on. I'm so glad I did. Not only did I get to interact with the campers, they made me a S'more. Nothing better than a S'more made by a camper with dirty hands on top of Spyglass hill. Seriously! So after climbing back down in complete darkness, feet black with cut grass and dirt, a couple of ant bites on the ankles, knees throbbing...it was all worth it when I downloaded those photos!
I feel that I am pretty lucky being able to go to camp each summer. I hope I can keep it up a while longer. Doing something you love keeps a person young at heart. I wish that for anyone.
*disclaimer* No campers were in harm's way when this photo was taken. All campers were safe in their cabins.
Just look how beautiful this place is...told you it was Magical!
