The image was a beautiful moment in the ceremony, deep within the photo, taken by a guest in the wedding party.
The groom is a photographer friend, and I know so well the axiom that “the shoemaker’s kids have no shoes,”
and how a photographer may sometimes never own any decent photos of their own important life events.
I saw another moment within the image – to be ‘brought out’ and brightened, so that it can be seen – and felt.
The difference between retouching and my creative ‘caress’ is that I use a quieter, more intuitive eye to see the newer photograph inside the original one, not just a cropping. I wrote another post about the technique in a June 6, 2020 post, Finding A Something More.
So happily honored to see that the bride posts this as her profile photo online. I wish Daphne and Jeff Happy Anniversary, and many dances together to come!
Dorothy Perry is a Chicago portrait photographer specializing in custom family portraits, modern headshots, & personal branding for women and executives.
Some make me laugh, and some make me go “ahhh,” with tears in my eyes.
This cartoon is “Les Triplettes de Belleville,” by Sylvain Chomet. I saw this with a friend years ago in a Chicago theatre, and it remains one of the very few movies that I have viewed more than once.
It is a poetic animated story with very few spoken words. Imagine a plot that brings together cycling, a small family, and three quirky sisters who are part musicians, part muses, and, when necessary, molls familiar with the darker sides of Belleville/Parisian nightlife.
There are some picturing of rougher things of life, so it is not a movie for children, but perhaps saved for when they can appreciate it: the story, characters, and lovingly drawn details create a world that stays with you long after the cartoon is over.
The emotion of amusement also creates access to consciousness, a powerful way to allow the ‘firing of the synapses’ that lead to fresh new ideas and thought patterns.
Do you have any favorites that have this evergreen quality? I’d love to see them!
Keep laughing – watch cartoons!!
Dorothy Perry is a Chicago photographer capturing the closeness of todays’ urban families. Contact her here.
I have a studio photograph of my parents as a middle aged married couple,
a posed portrait with her best outfit on, leaning on my dad’s back,
both with pleasant, fixed smiles.
This is the same pose we always have of ourselves through school, printed in the yearbooks, and remembered by friends.
But years later the children have only these photographs to recall their fathers, mothers, and beloved partners. What is remembered of their sparkle and vitality?
It is no accident the photograph of my parents my sisters share the most is one of them as childhood sweethearts in their youth and energy, graceful in the naturalness of that candid, immediate moment.
And it is kismet that years later, I find it is the seed of my creative technique in my search to capture real emotions for the romantic parents I love to photograph.
It stems from my desire to capture livelier, more engaged and energized portraits of mothers and fathers, photographing parents as the childhood sweethearts and lifelong soulmates they are.
My portraits are moments between two people in love, showing tenderness and affection. Glowing from true feelings inside for life and each other.
This intimate portrait is a gift that keeps on giving.
Dorothy Perry is a Chicago portrait photographer specializing in custom family portraits, modern headshots, & personal branding for women and executives.
This is my solo exhibition of artwork displayed in a beautiful Chicago church.
100% an artist’s dream until I added imaginating: the art of visualizing in 360 degree detail.
I walked the hallways, looked at my pictures like a visitor, touching the frames, greeting guests.
I said (and felt) the emotion of thanks and gratitude while I was doing it.
How long? Sometimes it takes a bit. You must be specific. Down to the smallest details, yet not have to have it in stone. I don’t know how else to describe it.
When you begin to have experience and success with smaller goals, it can appear in shorter amounts of time.
When I deliberately concentrated on it was when my partner was working on exhibiting. We spoke of details, frames, deadlines.
Then out of the blue, the thought formed in this exact sentence,
“I would like to have a show, too.”
And my thoughts were set in motion in this manner.
Within two months, I learned one of my photographs was included in a show of female blues artists in Evanston.
I enjoyed the reception experience and happiness of seeing my art on the wall.
Months later came a request to see if I was interested in exhibiting here.
My own show.
And I was able to display artwork from a personal project
that had given me a lot of happiness in making it.
Thinking in the way of imaginating begins by deciding what you want
and then creating a clear mental picture of it.
Then, you must keep that image in mind continually,
like a port toward which you are sailing a ship.
SEE IT in detail, and add your emotions: happiness, contentment, excitement.
FEEL the weight, shape, or heat.
BREATHE IN the scent of what you are touching, and
HEAR the clink or creaks of materials or background noise.
Gently add one by one until ALL senses are participating.
Our minds can do it with our eyes open. No rituals, chants, or changes in breathing are needed.
Each time you imaginate the picture, let the feeling linger.
Pay attention to the directions and choices in your daily life that come your way.
These ‘random’ things direct the next steps towards your goal.
Advance your dream with preparation and confidence (get passport updated, check out class tuition, go see the house)
and feelings of gratitude for what you have.
Interestingly enough, the solutions that come will have the unique circumstances that you need. This is also something that you can request.
We all can do this, but we have been taught many patterns of behavior that suppress our natural inclinations in creativity, curiosity, and play.
This manner helps create a personality who has tenacity, faith, persistence and focus on their goals.
You can make some of your dreams and desires come true. May you have God’s blessings of abundance over your life.
Chicago personal photographer Dorothy Perry creates portraits and art with the distinctive signature of energy. Contact her for commissions or exhibitions here.
