Last night, we had our first frost of the season here in the Denver metro area. I thought I would take the opportunity to look back at some fun documentary portraits from the summer. These were photographed at my grandmother’s house in Sterling, CO. The girls wanted to go out and play in the sprinkler and I wanted to get some pictures of them, so it worked out for everybody.

As you can see, they had a great time and I really like the pictures we were able to make. This was a great location for the shoot because I remember doing the same thing in the same location when I was a kid. It has meaning for me, so it adds something special to the images.

We had nice late afternoon light that I was able to use to rim-light the girls and back-light the water droplets. This makes for really interesting light in the images – soft on the skin and faces, but nice and contrasty on the edges and in the background. Also, because I was shooting black and white film, I was able to retain detail in the bright highlights and in the sky. If these same pictures had been shot on a digital camera, there is a good chance all of the highlight detail would have been lost.

The setting, the light, the “props”, the “wardrobe”, it all screams summertime and fun. This is what I go for in my documentary portrait shoots. Capturing a great memory, not just what the kids looked like at a certain moment in time.

You can click on any of the images to see them larger. Enjoy…

Tech Info:
Nikon F100
Nikon 50mm f1.4
Legacy Pro 400 (AKA Fuji Neopan 400)
Ilford Ilfotec DD-X Developer (7min @ 20C)

Camera Scan
Sigma SD9
Sigma 50mm f2.8 Macro
Photosolve Xtend-a-Slide