Wanamaker Photography

I never truly realized the value of what we, photographers, provide individuals and families, until recently. It was a week ago, June 21st 2009 - Father’s Day, when the importance of being a photographer and photographs in general really came into light.

Overall, Father’s Day Sunday was a beautiful day. After raining for nearly 3 weeks straight, we finally had a day where we could head outside without getting soaked. Loretta and I headed up to Sussex NJ to cover a soccer game for one of our leagues, High Point Soccer Club. However, my Mom had made early reservations for a Sushi restaurant in Monoroe NY, called the Plum House, so that we could all take my Dad out for his favorite dinner on Father’s Day. We covered the first of two games and handed control over to Tom, one of our freelance photographers, so that we could head out and meet up with my parents.

After an incredible dinner, we took a detour past our old house, talked with an old neighbor and headed back to Westtown. At home, we enjoyed cake and coffee while my Dad opened all of the gifts we had gotten him. Everyone did surprisingly well since he never really provided us with a list of what he wanted. As the night went on, my Mom spoke up and asked us all to head out on the deck so we could take some group photos with her new camera (one that she got on Mother’s Day last month).

We took a big group shots, shots of just the boys and shots of just the girls. There were even a couple shots in there with the dog. After looking at the picture, I realize why I stay BEHIND the lens …

… but we all laughed and headed back inside to finish out the evening. Around 10PM, Loretta and I decided to head home as we had a bit of a drive and lots of work to do the next day. What happened next has forever changed the lives of each one of us …

As we were getting ready to leave, including my brother and his girlfriend, my Dad collapsed in the garage. We frantically tried CPR to try and bring him back - but we all feel that he was already gone before the first responding EMS technicians even arrived. The ambulance arrived and took him to the hospital as the technicians continued to try and bring my Dad back - but at 10:40PM, he was officially pronounced dead.

What started out as a beautiful day, ended in horrible tragedy for our entire family. My Dad was only 64. In the days that followed, a range of emotions hit us all - but Sean and I held together what we could and worked on putting a tribute together to be played during his viewing services. As we combed through boxes and boxes of photographs, it was then that I realized how important being a photographer really is and how much value it provides families - whether they realize it or not.

Nearly each day, we photograph high school seniors, families, weddings, events and sports - never fully realizing that the images we are capturing could be the last images of that person. When we speak with some of our clients, they tell us that is has been 10 or more years since they last had a family photo taken. 10 years is a long time, especially when your entire life can change in the blink of an eye.

While many may not see the value of a photograph or what goes into producing that image, all I can say is that I am happy that our family has photographers because we may have never captured the final image above. To me, the image above has more value than anything in this world because it is the last image we took together as a family!

This past weekend, we headed up to my parent’s house to celebrate my birthday. Just before leaving, my brother called and told me that the rockets were flying in Pine Island, so bring my camera. I packed the Mark III and our 100-400mm lens. When we arrived at my parent’s house, we all hopped into my brother’s car and headed out into the onion fields to get a closer look.

Wanting to speak directly with the person in charge (who is also the announcer), we walked past a long line of tents with nothing but rockets and rocket parts underneath. Though this may be a hobby to some, it is a sport to others!

We were granted permission to sit on the inside of the launch field so that I could setup and capture some shots of the rockets on the pads. There were small rockets, medium sized rockets, big rockets and “freakin’ huge” rockets! Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see the latter take off as we arrived at the end of their FAA window. However, what we did see was absolutely amazing! Here are some of the shots, including one for reference to show you how big some of the large rockets were …

Over the past month and a half, we’ve photographed a lot of games for Sussex-Wantage Little League, but haven’t posted much in the blog. Things have been extremely busy for us this spring and we just haven’t had time to get the blog updated as often as we would have liked. In either case, I have gathered some of my favorite shots thus far from the games we’ve covered for Sussex-Wantage Little League …

This was a great shot! I was sitting just outside of the first base line when this player cracked the ball into the outfield and ran faster than I’ve seen anyone run before. However, he ran so fast that he left his one shoe back a home plate!

After playing baseball for a number of years as a kid, I know that the game can sometimes get boring. Though I am not sure why, but when that does happen, the infield sand looks like so much more fun!

Of all of the images that I just posted, this has got to be my favorite! This little runner was actually telling the coach to hold up because he already knew what he was going to do for the next play!