First Real Portraits.... Ever

Where IT All Started ...

Inside a U.S. Air Force Base

It IS an Endless Learning Process, this Portraiture adventure of mine - and there is Always Something NEW To Learn [and Experience] and one should always be mindful of Improvement and of Taking Things to the Next Level - Constantly. 

Having said that - Allow me to share a scanned image of one of a very, very few analogue prints {that I've kept all these years} of a former neighbour of mine. 
 

BACKGROUNDER
I was working for an architectural firm (my first job ever), then - when a project had me assigned (along w an office mate) to an American military installation - as inside a U.S.A.F. base - yes, as in the U.S. Air Force !   w/ F-15 Eagles, F-16 Falcons, C-5 Galaxies ...t., etc.  within the environs  … the never-ending symphony of jet engines on the background – 24 hours, literally ! - everyday !

I stayed, lived (along w my officemate Edwin) with an American family.  The base was home for both of us, for five long months

‘Twas like living in the States, even the air "smelled" different ! - Truth be told !

Suffice it to say, then, I decided to borrow my cousin's  Pentax SLR - and for the entire duration of my stay - I strived to take photos for posterity and somehow ended up making my first serious attempts at Portraiture.

That is HOW it all started - My Love Affair with Photography.

If not for those five long months, trying to capture my new "neighborhood/environs" in still images, I really can't say how my "architectural career" would have evolved.  Still, it took another three years [after that stint] before I finally got my first ever SLR, a Nikon FM2, and slowly, ever so gradually {and at that time I did not have the benefit of seeing my images on an LCD} taught myself portraiture  -  having my sister, mom, and first cousins as models  ---- 

FAST FORWARD TO TODAY
Now, taking portraits, particularly -> on-the-spot, on-a-whim IS second nature for me. 
With my added/current involvement in sports photojournalism, and being in sports several days a – I always look for portrait opps -  the “On-the-Spot” “B-t-Scenes” variety, that is – and have somehow built a “reputation of sorts”  for taking portraits – wherever, whenever, on a whim, a moment’s notice.

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Her family was our next door neighbor and  pretty much everyday she'd drop by to hang out with the kids of my "foster family" -> an American couple and their two kids.

She'd watch me take photos of the neighborhood, the greenery - the base  [particularly, the residential area]  had lots [and lots !] of trees !   I'd take shots at dawn, and dusk [in particular], the people I worked with, my office mate Edwin, still life photos in the house [doing experiments w/ different aperture/speed settings], then she'd look at all those prints [which I'd scrutinize] straight home from the photo shop - She was just around all the time  - so eventually I started talking her portraits.


HINDSIGHT
My first portraits were amateurish - and the 50mm, normal lens I was using really didn't give me many options - and well, whatever - like most beginners - I fumbled - took underexposed, sometimes overexposed images -Twas tough ->particularly within the limits of FILM !  --> Hindsight, I suppose that's how I was "compelled" to learn to visualize way --- way before hand HOW my pictures might, should and would look -> Firstly, in my Mind --     Well, so much for those  "old school" / "school of hard knocks" / " I paid my dues" days  ...... 

 At least,  I was able to save very, very few analogue prints [particularly my early solo portrait attempts inside the base]

{ I actually have more artistic [as in -> compelling and SOULful, even !] portraits of this feisty Texan, but I simply can’t find them

For now, this is the only one I’ve managed to “halungkat” from my “baul” of analogue prints.

The kid herself actually drew the straight hair pattern on the blackboard w chalk, then promptly posed so that her face was framed by the “straight hair drawing” on the blackboard. I simply had to take a photo.

By the way, her name is Dianna, a native from Dyess, Texas.

She became my First Ever !  {eventually} Favorite Portrait Subject – Truth be Told !

Dianna simply found ways to catch my attention -  she simply enjoyed hamming it up and posing !   It was just her, to always stand out among the rest

The feisty one eventually would ended up having the most shots, among the rest of my neighbors.

It came to the point, even, that my “ foster parents”, a  Fil-Am couple,  made “selos” cos I did not take as many portraits of their son, as much as I did Dianna.

'Twas outdoors, on the lawns, the playgrounds of the neighborhood - where I ended up shooting my first deliberate/serious one-on-one portrait shoots EVER !  

The kid simply liked it - and anyone in my situation, would probably [i'm sure] have done the same thing -

{and yes, as i stated - I really great portraits of the kid - up close and personal - that i simply cannot find , for now - - - and eventually showing those great ones of the kid beside my current best of my best  --- Hey, that would be so COOL ! very current current portraits would --- hav to find those analogue prints first ! }

Crazy. 




brosi gonzales