What do we say to the angel of death?
I got a text from Anna a while ago saying that she’s coming to Israel with her family and wants some photos of them Tel-Aviving like proper tourists. The energy in her voice and the fact that the family was described as “two big kids acting as parents and two actual kids with strong personalities” filled me with anticipation towards our session!
The families that are hardest to photograph in a studio are the ones that I want to photograph anywhere else.
So pretty early into the session, their boy cuts his finger on a sharp object while playing in the sand and from there the session took a different turn entirely — but not necessarily for the worst. If there was any doubt up to now that these are my kind of people to photograph, when the dad encouraged me to take photos of Rafi’s bloody finger, there was none at all now.
I am obviously not hoping for anyone to get hurt during my sessions but if it does happen — I sure as hell am going to take photos of it. All of the good stuff comes out in stressful or extreme situations and then I have the pleasure of shooting a pure documentary session. In the height of the moment, you’ll definitely forget about the camera and focus on solving the crisis.
In our story, Rafi asked if he’s going to die and his dad calmly replied “What do we say to the angel of death? Not today!” — clearly shows that this guy is winning at parenting.
I always ask if people want to take a few classic family portraits near the end of the session. It’s the best time since the kids have already gotten used to me, and I find that having them at the start of the session sets an expectation that I want them to look at the camera — and that’s not what I want in a documentary session. When I offer and the families don’t want them, it really strengthens my understanding that some people really don’t like the other type of family photography.
After the session I got a message saying she hoped I got something despite the injury.
Low expectations — alright!!
This is an important thing to emphasize — I don’t manage to somehow take your photos despite unexpected incidents. It’s exactly the random things that happen during our time together that make the sessions unique and even more “about you”.
* Anna asked me not to share any photos from this session.
They are amazing.
You’ll just have to take my word for it.