Rack 'em up

While down in southern California this month, I had the chance to shoot some images for a local senior center. While I was there, it was great hanging out with this group of pool players, most of whom are there every day.

A father's love

I had the last-minute pleasure of capturing images for the bat mitzvah of Rabbi B.'s daughter this past weekend on Mercer Island. Thankfully, there was no rain and mild enough temperatures so we could take some relaxed, natural light portraits outside. I love the warmth and emotion in this portrait of him and Chayale.

Little by little

Narrowing down a portfolio is essentially the process of lining up your children and deciding which ones you love the most. Well, after much of that, my portrait portfolio is finally being printed. Needless to say, I'm stoked about having 51 of my favorite images in a big, hardbound volume. A strong web-based portfolio is vital (I'm getting there in the next few weeks), but so is a physical product.

The cover looks a little something like this...

Separation clarity

So, I've been in the process of going through image after image, culling and narrowing down my portrait and wedding portfolios as I prepare to launch the long-overdue JoshPremako.com in the next few weeks. I won't lie. There have been moments, as I've started to go cross-eyed from staring at photo after photo after photo, that I've mused "It wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if I just 'accidentally' lost all the photos on my hard drives and started from scratch, would it?" It can grow wearisome, cycling through past work, trying to decide what best represents you, while functioning as your own worst critic.

And then I stumbled across this image of my friend Megan, shot more than two years ago in a fire-blackened Southern California canyon. I somehow completely bypassed this image while editing back then, and last night saw it with new eyes. A horizontal crop, a few minor adjustments, and I sat at my desk feeling better about a lot of things.

I'm finding it sometimes takes that distance, that time away from things, to provide clarity and freshness to get back on track with more vigor than we had before, when perhaps we were muddling along attempting to keep up a flagging energy. I've been feeling that a lot over the last few months, reminded that sometimes we simply need to step back, take a deep breath (literally or figuratively) and take stock of things. And just maybe, that's all it takes to find our way. I know that sounds terribly reductive, and really has nothing to do with this photo, but it's the truth.

What do you need to step back from?

I walk the line

At the moment, the sun is back out and the snow has stopped falling. That was not the case about two hours ago, as I watched this man lean into the wind and hustle down an alley.

At the threshold.

Winter has come to the Northeast, painting the landscape in neutral shades, and everything feels grey. Bare branches like lace against the sky. And a road winding to a warm house in a cold landscape. But there is a hushed beauty in moments such as this, and there's the knowledge all this will be bursting with lush, green vibrancy in a few months.

As the year winds down to a close, I look back on a year that was marked by highs and lows.

Expectation and disappointment.

New experiences and old fears.

The constant love of family and friends.

In other words, it was another year to be alive.

I look back on 2011 with no real regret, and I look forward to 2012 the same way I look forward to each new day: The chance to pursue something great.

Make your moments count.

(A note about the image: It was captured in northwest New Jersey with Camera+, edited in Snapseed and then run through Picture Show, to add the wear marks.)

Merry Christmas, a bit early.