The promise.

Throughout life we make a lot of promises. From the simple, “I promise, I really mean it” you make as a child, to the more committed variety when you promise to take on another person in your life with the final words, “I do.” The ultimate promise is to love and care for a child you bring into this world--- no promise is any more or less important, they just take on different meanings throughout life.

Probably the biggest promise I have taken on is when I had children and the promises the kids insist you make to them; yes there have been times I have made promises, and not kept them, it’s usually something like we are going to go to the park, pool or movies, and it doesn’t happen. I hear about it. The funny part about getting grief is, when kids make promises to parents, there is a great likelihood that it will never happen; yet we as parents know this moment we hear it. We really were not really born yesterday. For those of you who are not parents, or their kids don’t make promises, here is what we hear---“I promise to study as soon as this show is over or yes I will clean my room or the ultimate I really promise to go to bed in just a minute.” In our household these are not promises, they are “throw away” lines I know will only happen when they are pushed to do it. That usually brings on whining, arguing and attitude, something I know all too well.

Outside of the home there are other promises that are made; whether in the work world, with friends or even when taking a photo, I have made promises that I have worked to live up to.

We all understand the promises in the work and personal world, but what could be promised when you take a photo?

To begin, when you take a photo of someone, you are in essence invading their world with the promise not to embarrass or defame them. It’s been done millions of times before---this is the role of a paparazzi. When you are a photographer like I am, the promises I make are to not make the person look ridiculous or negative. I have many photos that fall into this category, but they are stored on a hard drive and will likely never see the light of day.

Probably the ultimate promise I make when shooting pictures is when I take photos of people I don’t know who are in a much different position than I am. It might be a homeless man/women, street performer, or someone who is just in the background of what I am shooting.

The photo above is an example of a promise I made to a musician in Atlanta. His name is Ron DeLoach, he is a “Blues Harpstylish,” and has been performing for about 15 years. He finds locations where there will be foot traffic and where his music can be heard. He is actually very good. One of the things he told me was, he was a photographer a while back. He was knowledgeable on the topic so I knew he was legit. I made two promises to him----I told I was going to write a blog that he would be a part of (I have his e-mail address) and I promised to send him two photos. One was of him playing and the other was of 2 giraffes kissing---my comment, “If you have these printed, since you are outside of the zoo, I bet you can sell them. I promise.”

Thanks for stopping by.