On 8/21/10 I had the pleasure of covering something truly amazing. . .the 100th Birthday of Mrs. Mary Dew. Mrs. Mary is charismatic and a true firecracker. Her mind is strong and her memory is much better than a number of the presenters and she corrected them as they told stories about her life regularly. Mrs. Mary didn’t want too many photographs of her taken, but she made sure she posed for them whenever she could. It is such a blessing to meet a woman of God that has lived through and continues to live by faith. Here are a few photos of her party where people came from across the country to celebrate her life. There is a short slide presentation at the end with the majority of the images that were taken. Thanks to her wonderful grandson Al. Evans for giving me the opportunity to share in this event.
My wife has finally decided to let me capture some images of her. I have been shooting professional for a while now and she rarely allows me to photograph her. The other night I was relaxing and watching T.V and she says “get up and and lets shoot.” Of course she would allow me to finally capture her when she is big and pregnant (lol). These pictures are important for a few reasons 1) We really never had any nice pictures of her when she was pregnant with baby #1 so we really wanted to make sure we got some 2) In the 13 years that I have been with her I have only seen my wife wear makeup on our wedding day (she is naturally beautiful). My son was my assistant and held lights and equipment while we did this impromptu shoot. It was so much fun, particularly when she got tired every 5 minutes due to the heat and weight (pregnant people are funny). At the bottom I am including a small slide that I put together for the baby shower this past weekend. Music: Beautiful by Ken J. Martin. Enjoy the Images.
As Joseph isn’t yet born, he received some help from his mother with his 4 Words. She chose Love, Increase, Blessing and Perfection. We pray that our son will always feel and learn how to Love Unconditionally. We pray that his life will be one full of Increase. We know that he is a Blessing and pray that every step in his life is Blessed. We pray that he always seeks Perfection in his life and that he walks in Perfect Integrity. He is due to be born 6 weeks from today and I can’t wait to meet him.
On September 3rd 2003, my wife and I went to what should have been our last Doctors visit before the birth or our first son (due the following week). These visits are usually quick and only involve a simple check-up exam. For some reason, someone had a made a mistake (or it appeared to be a mistake) on this visit and we were scheduled for an ultrasound. The tech, realized it was a mistake but thought, “hey you are here anyway so lets do it.” Its amazing how God works as they realized that there wasn’t much fluid in the sack and we had to rush to the hospital to induce labor. Well, two days later Joshua Keir Chapple was born. The real miracle to this birth is that the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck numerous times. Had the ultrasound not been scheduled, Joshua wouldn’t have live another week to his due date. He is Dramatic, Funny, Loving, Happy, Prophetic and truly Blessed.
In my new series, I ask people what are Four Words to describe themselves and I use face paint to write their names on their face and then capture an portrait. Joshua was my first subject and he chose Love, Writing, Fun and Music.
A few weeks ago I had the chance to attend the Artlantis Music and Art festival in Downtown Atlanta. This was the first time I had visited the Annual festival which exhibits various new artist of various mediums. There were booths for painters, photographers, jewelry makers, wood crafters, and of course great bands to enjoy the extreme heat that was present on that day in the ATL. I had a chance to meet two of my favorite independent artist, TheDollDaze and Brittany Bosco. I had a chance to capture a lot of images of the Band the Mermaids and even connected with their label representative. Although my summer photography work has started slow, it is starting to look like a great summer.
What if, everything you felt or were thinking was written all over your face? What if all of your pain, guilt, fears and sins were visible for everyone to see? Would that knowledge change your actions? Your thoughts? How you feel. It always amazes how parents can instantly read their children (at any age) as though whatever they did that day, was written on their face.
What if your whole life was WRITTEN ALL OVER YOUR FACE?
Last weekend as I was returning home from the Khryz Henry photo shoot (pictures coming in future blog) I nearly crashed my vehicle when I saw two black men riding down the street on two beautiful horses. I nearly drove off the road because I had to get a picture of them. I made brake marks pulling into the gas station they were crossing (imagine what everyone at the station thought when two horses pulled up next to them at the pumps), popped open my trunk and began to scream: ”Excuse me, excuse me can I take a picture of you?” I was fumbling trying to get my camera out with the wrong lens on so I could take a quick picture before they trotted away. They were great and allowed to take one quick snap each as they appeared to be in a hurry to leave. What young boy didn’t love Cowboys? Sadly, black kids didn’t really have any black cowboys to look up to. I did a little research and found very few images on the net, even though they did exist, their story is rarely told. When it is mentioned, they were portrayed as thugs and drunks and funny characters instead of the strong survivors they were. I captured and processed these two images for Jim Fowler, Jim Perry, “One Horse Charley,” Ben Hodges, Nat Love, Jesse Stahl, Isom Dart, Blas Payne, Fred Fay, Bill Pickett and the many other unheard of Black Cowboys who helped to build and pioneer our country.
Please leave a comment and tell me what you think.
On Sunday we all headed to my mother’s house for Easter Dinner. To say that we ate too much would be an understatement. My wife stayed up until One Sunday morning baking and cooking. She really out-did herself and baked a cheesecake, brownies, pound cake and a strawberry short cake. She also some dressing, a pound cake a strawberry short cake dish and devil eggs. A lovely time. . . (P.S. as I am just adding this new blog format, see my older post at http://keirchapple.blogspot.com)
