Its become a tradition to take a picture of our girls for a Christmas card photo… and some years it just hasn’t worked. Was it last year we tried to do a location shoot in NYC — and it started raining on us? Those photos never saw the light of day. So this year, we kept it very simple…

Have a very merry Christmas!

Ron

I was invited last summer to shoot some portraits of the kids at The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp… It’s an interesting place. For starters, it’s free to attend camp there… but… most kids there have been diagnosed with a life-threatening illness such as cancer, sickle cell anemia, hemophilia or other blood diseases, HIV/AIDs, or are otherwise medically unable to attend any other summer camp.

There were bunch of photographers there that day… and collectively, we made portraits of hundreds of kids, thanks to the amazing work of Flashes of Hope. (More on them after the photos).

My assignment was to shoot B&W portraits of two groups of boys. And I have to say, every one of these boys I met was delightful — and by all appearances, perfectly healthy happy kids. My thoughts and prayers are with each and every one of them.

I had a few challenges ‘outside my box’ of my own that day…(though nothing compared to what the kids have gone through. ) One was full-sun high-noon portraits in July. My inner-diva photographer said… “great kids, great location, terrible light. I’ll take my nap now, and will someone please wake me about a hour before sunset?” I shoot a lot in my studio… with powerful studio lights… so I brought one along thinking it might just the ticket for shooting in full sun. It worked. Every shot below was lit with the studio light.

Another challenge was that the assignment was for black and white images. Ever since about 1975, when I first saw Pete Turner’s amazing color photos, I never wanted to shoot black and white again. Thanks to this assignment, I’ve rediscovered a old creative tool.

Here are a few of my pictures… but keep reading below….

About Flashes of Hope

Flashes of Hope is a national organization that arranges photo shoots in pediatric hospitals for kids and their families. These shoots brighten the lives of the kids… and the hallways of their hospitals. They invite photographers and make-up artists to volunteer their time to produce portraits of the kids, and in so doing, they preserve special memories for these kids and their families. But even though the work in the trenches is largely done by volunteers, it takes money to keep the organization’s wheels turning.

Meet Lisa Cencula… She’s one of the head honchos at Flashes of Hope, as well as the leader of our group last July. She was a delight to work with. This is someone that knows how to work a clipboard! I’m not sure I’ve ever met someone with so much energy and ability to get things done (except for my bride of course!). Lisa was running by as I was finishing up my last official B&W portait and I convinced her to sit still for about 1/60 of one second. I got the distinct impression that she never sat still for that long of a time before. Nonetheless, I got this one snapshot of her before she ran off. No time for herself… but she is really doing great work for these kids and their families!

My Contributions…

Back to my original point, forgive my digression…. I’ll be making contributions to both Hole in the Wall Gang Camp and Flashes of Hope this year. Please learn more about these organazations… and please contribute too…

HoleintheWallGang.org

FlashesofHope.org

Thank you!

Ron

p.s… special thanks to my amazing bride Sarah who spent the day keeping track of the important details that are critical in a shoot like this.

Amy is an amazing painter… judging by the work she has hanging all over her Connecticut home. Many of her pieces are beautiful, but she has ventured toward the macabre as well. All of them are inspirations to me. She asked for a photographic copy of a huge painting of a polo horse she created, just before she had it packed and shipped off to her client in the Hamptons.

Sure, no problem, I thought. I got the shot that she wanted of her painting. But before I left, I got this shot that I wanted of the artist in front of her painting. I hope to go back another day for to capture more of her art… and tell more of her story.

We shot over 400 frames yesterday in Westport. Here is one of them.

Spencer is a voice-over actor, guitarist, track team athlete, and, his spare time, he attends Staples High School. We found this funky brick wall inside the building at Staples. It seemed perfect.

With that brick wall, I wanted to create a urban nighttime street scene effect in the photo, even though it was the middle of the afternoon. So I mounted my flash on top of an 18ft ladder which I stood up outside the building and pointed the light through the window. I had to do some serious color correction because of the green tinted glass.

Sheila Johnson and I met on a gray and gloomy day in New York City in a 5th floor walk-up studio on 28th street. Perfect weather to use a flash to break through the gloom! With the iconic building in the window, all I could do was to make sure it was part of the shot.