To show you some example of the tourists, here’s an outtake of Jenna.  I wanted to try to capture a private, contemplative moment of her.  So I’m asking Jenna to close her eyes and share an intimate moment with me and the camera.  I’m oblivious to everything behind me except Dr. Vin yelling “show more profile”    Next thing I know this couple pops into the background to soak in the falls for a bit.  Jenna was great and very patient, we eventually got the shot.  But I think maybe in this moment, Jenna is trying to say to me “really, a private moment…um, there’s about 7 people behind you watching.”  Oh, then after we finished the series, I was changing my position when I noticed that there were two guys to the left of me who had been standing there in the water for a while watching and waiting for us to finish so they could continue walking upstream to the falls.

I love this series of Dr. Vin and Karly.  Technically the shoot had wrapped but, you know, it’s hard for me to stop shooting.  Really, these are the moments I like to capture…unscripted, genuine. It simply started with Dr. Vin helping Karly with her flip flops.  I was so focused on the two of them, it wasn’t until I’d fired off a few frames that I noticed we had an audience.

Even in a time out Kennedy is just too adorable.  I am so weak, couldn’t resist those eyes.

Of course, I had this vision that while we were there, I would shoot all sorts of stock photos, maybe hire some models, scour every inch of the islands (Tahiti and Moorea) for the best shots, possibly to shoot a story..I wanted to make the most of my time there.  And I did make the most of my time, but not in the way I had initially thought.  Ultimately all I did was hang with my mom.  Partly because I was too worried to leave her alone, partly because, well, we were on vacation, but mostly because I genuinely enjoyed spending all that one on one time with her.  I will cherish that time with her more than I ever would the “perfect” shot.  Sitting on the beach watching the sunset with her, while she gets a little tipsy from one piña colada, listening to her tell me stories about her life..that’s the stuff that matters.

I’ve mentioned it before, my mom is not a fan of me pointing a camera in her general direction BUT, I can’t help it, I love photographing her.  I imagine there is some psychological component as to why, but I’m not ready to explore that just yet.  For now, I’ll chalk it up to the fact that I love her dearly.

So here is a little montage of some of the shots I took of her with my handy 1st gen iPhone.  Most of these were shot using the Hipstamatic App and a few were shot with the ShakeItPhoto App.

Stay tuned for another iPhone Tahiti post.

Here are a few pics of my family in Germany last summer.  They are part of a long term personal project I’ve been working on over the last several years.

I’ve been working on a personal project for the last several years photographing my family in Germany.  To see a few more photos from the project you can go to my post, A Walk Along the Rhein River

Quick Smantha story:  During this visit, she was playing hair dresser and pretending to cut my hair.  Suddenly, she kept wanting to lift my shirt.  When I asked her what she was doing, she said she had to trim the tiny hairs on my back.  Oh, the honesty of children.

To see more check out the gallery here.