Photographing Your Family

I picked up National Geographic photographer Joel Sartore's book Photography Your Family recently after I caught a bio of him on cable. The book features many of his famous photographs and of course examples where he turned his talents on his family. But I have to say it didn't turn out to be what I'd hoped.

He does have some great advice about putting yourself in situations where your photos will turn out great almost no matter what. But in the face of his tips for using a point-and-shoot or even an entry dSLR, his examples--while beautiful--seem useless. He recommends using shallow DOF in a portrait and then illustrates this with a portrait of his wife taken with special lens. He says you should minimize background distractions, and then shows a family portrait taken with a 400mm lens (which forced him to use a remote because at that focal length it was too far to run--???). Great advice and I'm not saying he shouldn't use special equipment but a novice is not going to be able to duplicate these results with a P&S and will be left disappointed. It's like giving makeup tips and then showing a picture where the model had hours of makeup work done. It's misrepresentative.

I said "turned his talents on his family" and turn on them he did. He recounts setting up the shoot for the birth of one of his children and that he thought he should "go big or go home." He had multiple cameras, big lighting setup, even a foot trigger so he could capture the moment the baby was in his arms. I can't imagine what the doctor, nurses or even his wife thought of all that! His wife is more patient and tolerant than I could ever be. At least he has the sense to regret this obsessiveness later.

He also has some criticism for those who try to capture every moment of their children's lives. Who's watching those videos, he wonders? Maybe it's a fair question, but this book isn't the time or place for it. Don't bite the hands that would pick up this book, I think.