CREATE A FEELING IN YOUR PHOTOGRAPH

Creating a photograph is so much more than point & shoot. You must give some thought to an image, create it in your minds eye before hand and ask yourself does this convey the feeling your going after ? Does it capture your subjects mood, and even their soul ?

You may not be that deep, or even care that much, but why push the shutter on your camera unless it means something. You'll always remember how beautiful & how proud you were of that certain image you did & how inspired it made you to do more.

Look into your subjects eyes, there's a story there, make that story come through in your photograph.

Hello, my name is Steve Sampson. My wife, Jo, and I own Sampson Fine Art Photography in Arlington Heights, Illinois. Just a note - I'm a photographer not a writer, although I do enjoy telling a story or two. I'm giving blogging a go to share a bit of my thoughts behind, and results from, my image making process. I'm passionate about photography, and I'd like to use this blog to explore why creating images is so important, not just to me personally, but to our way of defining and understanding ourselves, and our culture. I hope you'll enjoy the images you will find here, and visit often.

A bit of background on us - I have been a professional photographer for over over twenty years. I attended Columbia College in Chicago, and several professional schools and workshops in the time since. I studied with such masters as Tim Kelly, Monte Zucker, and David Ziser, among others. Jo has an BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and an MFA in photography from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She has been a working artist for over twenty years - most recently creating glass sculptures. We collaborate on most projects, and build on each other's ideas. Our clients enjoy the benefit of two trained artists with different, but complimentary visions.

I briefly wanted to share the logistics of fine art baby photography. I've posted an image of a beautiful 3 month old baby girl from an amazing session we did just the other day (look for more posts from the session shortly.) This little charmer is just a natural in front of the camera. We got lucky. Photographing infants and toddlers takes a lot of planning and patience. We work around nap and feeding schedules. A well fed and well rested baby makes for a more pleasant environment for all involved. When the parents can relax, the child will relax. This allows them to reveal that true personality the parents know and love (not their latest impersonation of their evil twin that shows up on occasion.) Yet with all this planning we know we have a short window of cooperation from our young subjects. The goal remains to create a piece of art; therefore, we have no preset time limits on our sessions. A gently sleeping infant in a parent's arms can be just as powerful an image as a child looking straight into our lens.


These days when just about everyone has a digital camera of some sort with them, why would someone seek out our services? I believe it has to do with several aspects of how we create our images. We chose to include the words "fine art" in our name to convey that our work goes beyond just clicking the shutter a few times during a rushed 15 minute photo session. For one thing we always conduct a consultation with our clients prior to their sitting. In addition to discussing the theme of the sitting and clothing choices, we determine what their hopes and desires are for the session. Add to that our creativity, affection for our subjects, extensive knowledge of lighting, composition, and body language, then you have an image that soars beyond a mere snapshot. As all of these elements come together they create a complexity within the image that grabs the viewer's attention, and invites them to spend time with the subject. This is why our clients choose us. We consistently deliver images that delight their eyes and touch their hearts on many levels.

I welcome any questions or comments you may have. I enjoy helping people get better results from their cameras. Just drop me a line and ask away.

If you would like to see more of our work, please check out our display at the Busse Center in Northwest Community Hospital here in Arlington Heights.

Just a note - our new wesite www.sampsonfineartphotography.com is currently under construction, but should be up any day.

Thank you for visiting, and reading my first post here on the new Sampson Fine Art Photography blog. Look for more soon!

Steve