We all have skills, gifts, talents… call it what you may. Sometimes they come naturally; sometimes they’re received only after much toil and determination. I feel blessed that others find value in something I enjoy wholeheartedly – creating imagery with my camera. For me, photography is the perfect blend of something I’m reasonably competent at (science) and something I find more challenging (art). The science of photography comes easy for me. I understand light, its behavior, how it’s measured, how to control it. The art of photography I find more elusive. What makes some images really “work” while others are, well, ordinary?

No matter how you gained your own unique gifts, the reality is they don’t do anyone any good if you keep them to yourself. True and meaningful joy is created by sharing with others. An image I create of a young child is just a picture, but when shared with the mother, it becomes a priceless masterpiece.

Through imagery, I’ve managed to bring spontaneous laughter, tears of joy, and wistful smiles to many of the people who’ve crossed our threshold. It’s with that same desire to bring pleasure to others that I volunteer my services to the community. I’m thankful to the Educational Opportunity Foundation of the Black Forest (EOF) who found value in my services and once again, asked me to photograph their Annual Scholarship Awards Banquet.

The EOF invests in our most valuable commodity, our youth… for it is our youth that decides our tomorrow. Congratulations to Landon Abernathy, Megan Garrison, Lynda Lonsky, Alissa Sottosanti, Caroline Townsend, Emily Clark, Mary Kumbera, Julia Smith, and Alyssa Tews – this year’s scholarship recipients. It was my pleasure to join you for the evening as the community recognized your achievements. My sincerest best wishes go out to all of you.

For more information about the Educational Opportunity Foundation of the Black Forest, or to learn how you can support or donate to this organization, phone (719) 377-2511 or point your web browser to www.blackforesteof.com

We had a great gift at the studio a couple of weeks ago. My eldest daughter paid us a visit. She left her job in Houston, and was on her way to Alaska. She’s snagged herself a job that has her working at the end of the Dawson Highway at the Arctic Ocean.

It was a pleasure having her here. While we didn’t “do” a lot, we were quite busy getting her outfitted and ready to spend a year in the North Country. If you’ve been around anytime at all, you soon realize, it’s not what you do that’s important, but rather, the company you keep while doing it. That’s the way it was with my daughter and I. It was joy to go shopping, do repairs on her rental unit, and yes, even sitting at the county title office while we transferred the title to her car.

It turned out to be a long couple of days for her as she traveled north, but she is now safely relocated. I invite you to check out her blog at http://imperfectramblings.wordpress.com. She’s mused about her journey in detail. She told me they were planning on going out to photograph soon as they are expecting temperatures to rise to a balmy 20 below zero.

All the best to you my daughter. Wish I could follow in your steps…

I have a fascination for old photographs. I can’t help myself. For me, old photographs are a portal to a bygone era – a glimpse of life in another time, another world. Yesterday, I was waiting at the Dr.’s office and on the end table was self-published book documenting the life of Ken Ochs, who grew up in Russell, Kansas and later moved to Colorado Springs.

Liberally scattered throughout the pages, were a hundred or so photographs, each documenting some historical occurrence in Mr. Ochs’s life. Through these images, I gazed into the eyes of his siblings, parents, grandparents, children, and grandchildren. For an instant, I was transported into the world of an immigrant farmer trying to carve out a life for himself and his family on the unforgiving land of the New World during World War One. I experienced the thrill of being on the trail with the Range Riders as they traveled around Pike’s Peak on their 1949 inaugural expedition. I witness the evolution of our city through the decades.

These images are a time capsule.  While they may be unexplainably interesting to me, I’m sure to Mr. Ochs and his family, they are priceless. I task you to go find the family album. Open it to any given page, and I’m willing to bet a flood of memories will spring forth. Memories of your childhood. Memories of your first crush. Memories of that insufferable family vacation you just couldn’t wait to end.

All this is a prelude the real point of my musing. Ms. Kalen Henderson wrote in the current issue of Professional Photographer about her observations of today’s generation. In my day, practically everyone had an album or shoebox filled with family snapshots. Today, however, not nearly so much. We take photos with our digital cameras and download the images to our hard drive. They are viewed once or twice on our computer screens, and then sentenced to solitary confinement, locked within the interiors of silicon chips. Perhaps more images than ever are taken every day with our cell phones. But where are those images? The lucky ones end up on Facebook to at least have a modicum chance of posterity. The rest, they die with the demise of the phone or device on which they are stored.

So here’s another challenge to you. I quote from Ms. Henderson, “It is the responsibility of every photographer, whether professional or hobbyist, to be a visual recorder of history.” Every photograph is a ration of antiquity, a millisecond slice of the world as it existed the moment you released the shutter. Have those images printed. Don’t let their fate depend on the fickle trends of technology evolution. Let’s not deny our children the privilege of browsing through the family album, and just for a moment, live in the world of yesteryear.

Inspiration taken from “Scatterin’s and Smatterin’s” © 1993, by Ken Ochs, and “Starting over: Memories of a lost generation”, Professional Photographer, January 2012.

I decided to step away from the studio yesterday and spend the day at Breckenridge. Breck is host to the “International Snow Sculpture Championships.” Sculpting and judging actually took place last week, but viewing of the finished artwork will go on through Feb. 4th, weather permitting. A couple of the sculptures already succumbed to the tepid temperatures, including the second place winner. Despite the premature demise of two creations, over a dozen sculptures still remain.

Of course I took some photo equipment along, but chose to “go lite” this time. I took two camera bodies with me, one fitted with a 50mm prime lens, and the other was my converted infrared with an 18-70mm kit lens. It wasn’t a particularly great day to shoot infrared, but as I don’t get the opportunity to use it often, I thought I’d give it a go. When the conditions are right, infrared can produce some really dramatic imagery unlike anything else.

The accompanying photo is a true infrared image. Limited post-production work was done, tweaking mainly for overall contrast, noise, and density. Please give me a shout if you would like to know more about this intriguing form of photography.

Dan Hagmaier