My previous blog post chatted about prepping for First Holy Communion photographs – the “ins and outs” from the parent’s side of things. This post is what we can learn from children during the event. Really, who’s the student here? Me!!!
As I began the morning, I had a whole new lighting set up to make things more protected taking Covid into account. Instead of a wide open set, I had created a bit of a cocoon to slide one child into at time. First boy into the set stops me dead in my tracks, “Ummm, can I say something?” Me, “Sure! are you uncomfortable? Is everything ok?” Boy…”Oh yeah, I just think this is like sooooomething out of a movie- are you gonna clone me in here or anything?” Ha ha ha! What do you say to that?!! This is 7:45 a.m. GREAT way to start my day! I loved it!
I’m about 20 minutes into shooting, and posing is happening effortlessly. I think to myself, these parents are incredible, they must show their children images of “how” they want them to smile, or look serious, etc. So I just ask… “How did you know how to give me such a great little smile just now?” Answer… “Oh I didn’t, I just really like your sneakers and they made me smile.” There you have it – posing is all in the shoes! I do try to “dress down” when working with kids and I had a pair of floral printed Chuck Taylors on… I might need to start a collection!
Continuing with the theme of clothing as it was a hot topic this particular morning, I quickly fell in love with the dresses and asked, “Oh my goodness, this dress is so unique, did you pick it out yourself?” Without a care in the world as if we were in the Royal Palace prepping for Tea, “This one? Ohhhhh Noooooo, Harper picked it out for me, of course!” lol! I really had to keep my composure on THAT one, because THAT was hysterical!
I think it’s important to introduce yourself to children. They have all the same feelings as we do, so I try to let them know whose working with them to create their portrait that day. As more kids arrive and people are buzzing around, I sometimes forget, so I accidentally introduced myself twice to one child. I saw the look on her face,… “did I already tell you that?” Answer… “Um yes, you did, but that’s ok Lisa, because I’ve been wanting to tell you I really like your necklace- it reminds me a Jelly Beans!” PRICELESS!
There’s always a few children that just aren’t comfortable smiling- whether they don’t like their teeth or they’re afraid to be silly because it’s a Church event, who knows why. I try to get them out of the moment by asking about their pets. This morning, I got the entire history of the family pet, as well as the family! “Do you have a pet? A dog or a cat in your house?” Loooong streaming answer… “Yessss. A dog. He’s kinda like Bolt. Acts like Bolt too. Do you know the movie, Bolt?” Me…”uhhhh, Yes, I do- great movie!” Continuing….”oh yeeaaaaah, well he even runs around like him, zoom zoom, like lightning and then we have to yell his name to calm him down. My Grandmother named him by the way. She said we have to name him Bolt and the next thing you knew, we called him Bolt.” At this point, I’d forgotten the whole reason I asked about a pet. “How did we get to talking about Bolt?” “I don’t know. You were taking my photo and asked me if I had any smiles in my back pocket, and then, You asked me about my pets.” RIGHT!!! Schooled again!
I feel thoroughly prepared for next year. I need a new wardrobe, a name tag made of candy, and a fashionista to pick my clothing for the event! What a treat to work with kids!!!
Spring brings so many occasions in which to prepare – Easter, Mother’s Day, Graduation and if you’re religious, First Holy Communion. Along with being a wonderful moment in your child’s Life, it can be stressful for Moms and Dads alike. Which dress to pick out, what suit or dress shirt to wear, can they walk down the church aisle in these dress shoes without tripping, does this veil even look right- maybe I attached it upside down? It’s endless!
In my 20th year of business at The Camera’s Eye, I thought I might share a few tips to ease your stress. I shoot at least two Holy Communions every Spring and I’ve tweaked a lot of crooked ties and lopsided veils. ; )
First, take a deep breath. Your energy will transfer to your child and you want this is be a lovely experience for them. If you’re having portraits taken prior or through the church, (I do both in my Studio on Lake Street and at the Church of Epiphany), know that most of the people involved have everything you need in case of a clothing mishap, forgotten item or even a veil or sport coat that just won’t cooperate. I come with a goodie bag of safety pins, bobby pins, sewing kit, 3 colors of Rosary beads, a miniature Bible, a booster in case your Son or Daughter isn’t tall enough to see over the kneeler and the list goes on… Moral of the story, if you’ve signed up for professional portraits, that’s exactly what you’ll receive.
Second piece of advice? Despite how “dressed up” you want your child to look, if the clothing or item doesn’t feel right on them; they’re going to be uncomfortable…for a couple of hours, in a church, where they are expected to be respectful. lol- no easy task! Give them a chance to try it on a few weeks in advance and trot around the house feeling “fancy.” If it’s really irritating them, you have time to replace it and save the day as SuperMom or SuperDad.
Lastly, arrive early to your photo session. It gives them an opportunity to shake off the jitters while we chat for a few minutes about why they chose their Rosary beads or how they’re feeling about their part in the ceremony, etc. I’ve learned some very interesting facts from children engaged in conversations about their Rosary Beads. For example, which pair “I can ONLY use for the photo because they were my great, great grandfathers” as opposed to “the pair in my pocket that I lost twice on the way from my house- DON’T tell my MOM!” The smiles are so much better when we have a good laugh before getting behind the camera lens.
Working with kids is amazingly fun if you take a moment to think of this time through their eyes and try to relate to them. If you have any additional questions that I didn’t think to mention, leave me a comment. I’d be glad to share any experiences!
Last Fall, Lisa Bystrak, artisan & owner of Rusty and Jewel partnered with Farmer Browns in Apalachin, NY to enhance the already blooming marketplace of owner, Logan Keeney’s greenhouse and driving range campus. With the help of artsy friends & most importantly Lisa’s family, she reconstructed two corn silos into unique and fanciful gift shops
Today at 4 pm, Lisa is giving a Virtual Tour of The Silos at FBM, to showcase the hand-crafted gifts and housewares available for purchase within the Silos.
Silo #1 has a gardening & natural product theme ranging from plant decor to honey bee items all made by either Lisa or Artisans throughout the United States. Rusty & Jewel is very dedicated to shopping local and USA-made products.
Silo #2 is all about Lisa’s imagination and repurposing old-time, everyday items into unique, hand-crafted items with flare. It boasts one-of-a-kind necklaces from spigot handles, bracelets from antique buttons, earnings punched out of tins from days long gone.
It even has a “Piece Work Station” inspired by her Mother being paid for ‘each quality piece’ while employed at EJ Shoe Factory in nearby town, Endicott, NY. At the station, you choose one of four necklace types and as many trinkets or tiny decorative pieces as your heart desires.
There’s plenty of giveaways during today’s virtual tour & additional information about the physical Grand Opening of the Silos on FBM’s Facebook
Seldom do I share my personal Life on my business platform; however, an old friend once told me, “drastic conditions call for drastic measures, Lisa.” I laugh at this today as we were coaching middle school, female, athletes at the time. EVERYTHING is drastic & dramatic in that realm. lol. This drastic time is different, and I feel an intense desire to share, so I’m rolling with it. So many friends, near & far feel a weird “something” – sadness, strength, worry, fading hope, love, despair – something for sure and truly it bonds us All, we just don’t always talk about it.
As a pro-Photographer in Upstate NY, I travel through winter months as means to supplement my income. If you’ve ever lived in an area where people hunker-down in the cold chill of Winter, this makes perfect sense as clients and neighbors begrudge facing the weather to buy essentials; forget about getting dressed up with their Family in tow for an updated portrait of their chilled-to-the-bone loved ones. Let’s be realistic!
This year during my work travels, I honored a wild itch to further my education and within a 2 week time frame, I was smack-dab in the middle of an intensive program even farther from home. Buried in studies, trying to re-establish some presence of a working office, this pandemic hit. In my early 40’s, I made a paradigm shift in the way I choose to see & respond to most Life events. This World event challenged my newly found thinking and stirred a struggle I could barely mutter to myself. My daily meditation, which always started with “We are all connected, We breathe the same air” veered from the path of enjoyment to the path of necessity to keep my focus on… Anything! Let’s just be human and honest; I’m miles from home in an intensive “bootcamp,” my career is dangling on sketchy internet & a wobbly night stand/makeshift work station and my 78 year old Mother had been in & out of the hospital the entire month of February. I was MEDITATING for far less than ENJOYMENT!
In this program, I was surrounded by a small network of people who became much like a Family. This Family was from all over the US and World; Russia, Oregon, Alaska, Costa Rica, Vermont, Switzerland- you name it, one of them was from somewhere. My roommate was a business owner from Seattle, Washington. Yes, ground zero for the US virus outbreak. If I needed information about COVID 19, I had reliable information in minutes. Following the recommendations of the World Health Organization, we too were eventually closed down and given the option of staying put or returning home.
If things weren’t difficult enough in my internal struggle, the Universe just added coal to my fire – or rather I added it myself. If you ever have the opportunity to know me, you’ll quickly learn I’m flighty and have a lifestyle that allows me to follow my whims at the drop of a hat. So, I’ve done a bit of traveling. You’d think that’s amazing and truly, IT IS! But in all my whimsical travel, I’ve gotten myself into predicaments I’d rather not been alone and so I’ve established a fear of flying. Not the actual, “get up in the air and stay there until your final destination” flying. No; more the logistics of security, the sitting on the plane for endless hours only for the flight to be cancelled nearing midnight, or the waking at 3 a.m. to make an early flight so you aren’t stranded in an airport late at night ONLY to wait the full day in the airport midway to your destination and then be stranded in the airport nearing midnight, this time EXHAUSTED. You create the scenario, I promise, I’ve lived some form of that dilemma in the airport… Alone.
My “Family” began to pick up on this Fear… might have been my pacing, maybe the incessant need for chocolate, or might have been my roomie overhearing me say, “I’d sit curbside in Newark, NJ all night before I would sit IN THE AIRPORT for 24 hrs during a World Pandemic!” Who knows, who cares; I was freakin’ out and it wasn’t a matter of muttering it to myself anymore. It was a matter of spilling it all over the place and into the Peace of the people around me.
I reached out to my network all across the US and took my meditative practice to the next level by booking a Bee session with author, Juls Amor. With the last of my money, except $20 I saved in cash for traveling, I laid atop a bed of stingless bees in effort to raise my vibration and shake the Fear long enough to ride a 2 hour shuttle, get on an airplane in an international airport and drive 4 hours in the midst of a pandemic in the mid of the night… Alone. Juls was as uplifting as an angel from the Heavens and I left the session with this mantra… “I’m protected- We are all protected.”
All of this sounds crazy as I type, but really, this is just a Life experience. I can’t make any of it up because I’m living it, as are you. Why would I share this story as it seems I’m adding chaos to the current chaos?… because it’s Life. It’s not that any of Us have perfect Life tools to manage because we added a mantra to our meditation. It’s how we learn to see and deal with Life and how we connect with those we’re already fundamentally connected that changes the chaos. This process for me is ever-evolving and today, You are apart of it.
My flight was cancelled 10 minutes prior to riding the shuttle and I was given a later, same day option or a next day option. I turned to Brit in my educational Family… “get on or stay? Talk to me, please talk to me!” “This shuttle gives you 8 of us in which to ride and walk through security… I say GO with Us now!” On I go. 2 hours later, we zoom through security and 6 of the 8 board and fly away. It’s down to Ellie and I. Little does she know, the hug she gave me when it was time for her to board was so encompassing, it could have filled the airport. She just didn’t let go and you guessed it, I felt “protected”… amongst travelers with face masks, 5 feet social-distancing announcements, disinfectant wipes and rubber gloves galore! Hours later it was my turn and every Fear I had played into fruition. If you’re thinking I melted to pieces, you’re dead-on accurate. It’s what happened next that carries today’s message.
The plane was almost full to capacity and we sat on the runway for just under 2 hours waiting for an extra, but unnecessary flight crew. If 5 feet social-distancing was required, we shot that rule right out the window! I tried to meditate, but felt stifled while breathing deeply as the woman behind me repeatedly tried to muffle her cough. One hour and 45 minutes into the wait, I had closed my eyes and buried my hands in Juls’ book, “The Year of the Frog.” “I’m protected, we are all protected,” I just kept saying it over and over and over. The loudspeaker breaks my pattern, “Hey! This is Captain Andy again from your flight crew. It’s occurred to us that you’re not aware of why we’re waiting so faithfully for this crew… You are on the LAST flight out for THIS airline from THIS airport.” Behind closed eyes I begin to sob desperately – the kind of tears that if you weren’t silent would project from your eyes like an animated character in a children’s cartoon. My thoughts are racing. “This plane is NEVER going in the air! I’ve done this before. They’re going to delay for as long as they can and then ship us back into an airport that will become a make-believe homeland of quarantined international vagabonds! Nooooooo way! No, NO, Nooooooooo!”
At that moment, at that very moment when I was debating frantically climbing OVER the refined elderly couple next to me and running hopelessly down the center aisle to WHAT – I have NO IDEA, but I was running anyway… I heard a voice, soft and even-toned, “Honey, are you ok?” Unaffected but tuned in, I reply, “Hmmmm, no.” “Are you afraid because I’m elderly and sitting next to you?” “Hmmmm, no.” “What can I do for you right now?” Eyes still closed, trying with everything I have NOT to burst a spray of tears all over the back of the seat in front of us, “Hmmmm…” Silence. Nothing came out of my mouth! Mind still racing, I think.. she’s waaaaay to kind for me to ignore – Who has this much kindness right now??? Eyes closed, “Ma’am, my name is Lisa… are you a therapist?” All I could think was HOW on Earth did I land a seat next to a therapist????? As calm as she began, she replies, “my name is Brenda and No, I’m not a therapist, I’m just old as can be.” Opening my eyes to turn and look at this Being – fearless in her 70’s, it was as if someone shot a sedative straight through my veins. “You and I can’t swim home so I thought you should know, Honey, we’re going to New York… tonight!” Without anything else from her, “I was protected.”
24 hours later I arrived at my front door in NY, exhausted but grateful… for Juls, Brit, Ellie, Brenda & and all of Us. I’ve wanted to tell that story to all of Us for days, but I kept it to a select group of friends and family because I thought it was too chaotic to add to the uncomfortable reality we’re living. Really though… it’s NOT. It’s exactly what we need right now… to know that everyone of Us, US or Worldwide (that I’ve chatted with) is staying home, doing their part, and feeling “something.”
Don’t be misled, I fully understand I’m including myself in those sentences above using the word, “Us.” In sharing with you, I’m reminding myself. The thing we’re NOT right now, is ALONE despite the reality that we’re confined to places that would make Us feel… Alone. In isolation, whether warranted or welcomed… Fear grows. I was not Alone on that plane. Some fascinating Universal energy sent Brenda to that seat next to me and with my eyes closed, I felt her Peace. Yes, touch is a beautiful thing and I long to hug you All, but for now, “we are not only ALL Connected and Breathe the same air… we are Protected.”
It’s important to me that you understand, I’m not sharing this Life experience and message from a seated, Guru position of enlightenment. Quite the opposite… I share it with Us as a way of processing it, as a way of connecting, and as a way of trying to see the Light I know is hidden in this time of chaos. In meditation today, tears quietly fell down my face as I realized every conversation I had yesterday was filled with COVID 19. If we aren’t infected, who are we kidding? Our minds are infected- or I’ll speak for myself – my mind is infected with Fear. I would praise a news channel to put a “Brenda” or a “Juls” on the prime time reporting hour and watch the Universe heal emotionally. For today, I encourage Us all to part with Fear, or to at least acknowledge it and let it sit in the Air to dissipate like the dark smoke it is. My tears in meditation are Fear and my resistance to sit in meditation is my resistance to that acknowledgement… I am afraid of what is happening around me.
… and with that honesty, the Fear lessens and the Reality sinks in… “we are not only ALL Connected and Breathe the same air… we are Protected.”
I met Jack, owner Logan Keeney’s Uncle this Spring at Farmer Brown’s Marketplace in Apalachin, NY while photographing & promoting Mother’s Day hanging baskets. Obviously, gardening runs in the genes with the Keeney Klan. Jack is not only a #garden #enthusiast, he’s ray of brilliance with knowledge of just about any plant on premises. I was quickly fascinated by him…
Knowing Jack was a sap for info, while marketing #Perennials at FBM, I brought him a #milkweed stem hosting a tiny Monarch #caterpillar. I participate in Kentucky University’s Monarch Watch program, and thought he would “dig it” – all pun intended!
Approaching him with a smile, I said, “I have a gift for you, but I warn you, it can change your Life.” Well… it not only changed his, it changed all of ours! Within an hour, Jack built FBM a Monarch enclosure, hunted for baby caterpillars on the surrounding Milkweed and propagated the Milkweed plants FBM already had for sale.
With Jack on staff, customers shopping at FBM are introduced to the #Monarchs- in all stages of their Life cycle and handed a wealth of #butterfly knowledge.
It occurred to Logan, Jack was a wealth of knowledge that FBM should be sharing, hence, “Chats with Jack” was born! Wednesday through Saturday, 10 to 5pm, Jack will be open to any questions about planting, propagating, transplanting, plant identification, plant disease and his new found love, Monarch Rearing.
These are just a few topics we mustered up. Jack will take just about any gardening question you throw at him. Can’t make it in to see Jack, visit FBM’s website & click “Chats with Jack” to leave your question.
No questions to ask???… you may simply want to visit Jack at Farmer Brown’s for a tour of the Monarch enclosure and to see what these inquisitive little creatures have to teach us! Kids will love it – a definite day adventure before school starts!
Anna, a Maine Endwell student approached her High School Senior photos exactly as we all should- with a tad bit of nervousness and a ton of style! She kept her outfits simple, yet wore her favorite hat adding a touch of flare.
As a musician, she tagged along with her guitar pulling out the soft, contemplative side you see here…
That same guitar strapped around her back evoked a playful, energetic smile that was so natural I didn’t even have to prompt for it behind the camera.
Just to be certain I covered all of Anna’s personality, I asked for just a pinch of serious… and bam… there it was.
No two Senior sessions will be the same, but for sure at The Camera’s Eye, they are all effortless because being yourself behind the lens should be just that! Schedule your session today http://www.thecameraseye.biz , send an e-mail to lisamcqueeney@gmail.com or drop me a text @ 607 426 6023.
Meet Laura, a 2019 senior at Owego Free Academy! I had a blast shooting with her, her mom, and her friend Maria.
For her senior session, Laura wanted outfits that would reflect all her different sides. She found most of her clothes at a consignment store the day before!
Laura does a lot of theater and music and runs cross-country. She also just returned from a one-year Rotary exchange program in northern Thailand.
A huge thank you to Laura for a great senior session with The Camera’s Eye! Best of luck in your last year at OFA 🙂
Thanks to ALL of my 2019 seniors and families! Senior sessions might be over, but it’s never too early to start thinking about grad announcements. And if you want to use any of your photos for holiday cards, I need your orders in by Dec 1.! Contact me today 🙂
Anna, a Maine Endwell student approached her High School Senior photos exactly as we all should- with a tad bit of nervousness and a ton of style! She kept her outfits simple, yet wore her favorite hat adding a touch of flare.
As a musician, she tagged along with her guitar pulling out the soft, contemplative side you see here…
That same guitar strapped around her back evoked a playful, energetic smile that was so natural I didn’t even have to prompt for it behind the camera.
Just to be certain I covered all of Anna’s personality, I asked for just a pinch of serious… and bam… there it was.
The Camera's Eye 