I absolutely loved shooting for The Children’s Museum of Sonoma County for two reasons:
First, watching these children experience the wonder and joy of discovery through play is truly awe inspiring. Children have a special way of interacting with the world: a delightful mix of innocence, open minds, and most of all a sense of wonder.
As a photographer, I’ve found that cultivating my own sense of childlike wonder is a powerful tool. At its core, photography is storytelling. An open mind combined with a little kid magic makes finding that story a little bit easier…and it makes everything on set more fun!
Second, this was a family project! My two boys were part of the “talent” during our shooting days; a rare opportunity for my kids to see how I work, and in a context to which they could relate. My wife, who is also a pro photographer, was on set shooting and coordinating logistics. You can see Autumn’s family & wedding work here: throughautumnslens.com.
As usual, our success with this project was the result of collaboration and teamwork. Collette Michaud, Cyndi Yoxall and the rest of the team at CMOS were fantastic to work with; it was a joy to spend time in the magical world they have created for the children of our community! Kelsey Floyd and Jung Fitzpatrick assisted on separate days and elevated the shoots with their logistical support and creative suggestions. Most of all, the Sweet Pea (a.k.a. Autumn) was my creative collaborator throughout pre production, during the two shoots and during post.
Check out our Behind the Scenes video:
Tyler’s Tips
Tyler’s Tips is a weekly video series where I share ideas to improve your photography! I share my favorite tip from last month here:
In this episode, I explore the power of cropping: In my opinion, cropping is one of the most fundamental things we do as photographers. Arguably, photography is nothing more than cropping a rectangle out of the world! It can also help change a failed image into a great image or take a good image and make it even better.
