"School Days"

"School Days"
©David A. Ziser

I was flipping through some older images in my studio the other day looking for an image I needed for my wedding book - yes, we are in the final stages of wrapping the book's edit - still looking at a July release date - I'll keep you posted. Anyway, I came across this portrait I made for a client a number of years ago. I remember that I was testing Kodak's 1000 ISO film at the time and used it on this shoot. Frankly, looking at this image as a 24x24 inch print, I'm glad I'm shooting digital today. The noise characteristics of the new cameras blow away even what we had in film over 15 years ago. I was actually photographing the second wedding for my client. The wedding was being held in the Little Red School House, an historic building in the Cincinnati, Ohio area which is open to private functions. The 3 little flower girls were the daughters of the bride which she ask me to photograph. Given the location and how the little girls were dressed, I chose the school's blackboard as the background for this image. The girls were illuminated with the light streaming softly in the window of the front door. This gave the light the direction I needed to show the details and textures of the setting. I think the rich colors and patterns of the girls dresses along with their great expressions playing out on the simple background of the chalkboard make for a beautiful children's portrait. Camera spec; Hasselblad 500CM fitted with 50mm Distagon lens, F5.6 @ 1/125 second, Kodak Vericolor 1000 film. Enjoy! -David