My Grief Will Never Leave...

Mourning my son's death has become a bit less intense now that we are in the eighth month since his passing, but the grief I feel about his death will never be completely gone from my heart. Those of you who have lost a child are about the only ones who will truly understand that statement, but that is okay with me.

With less intensity filling all my days, I have slowly started moving back to placing a focus on my photography. Up until now, though, the only decent images I have made have been at Lonnie's grave. "Tear Catchers" is one of my favorites:

"Tear Catchers" was made at Lonnie's grave shortly after his marker went into the ground in early April.

If you look closely at the image, you see not just the raindrops that fell on these roses that day, but also, in the "bowl" of each rose, a small puddle of rainwater -- a perfect metaphor for a grieving mother.

Options for purchasing (including framed prints, greeting cards, plus tote bags and throw pillows) are available for this and my other photos. Explore more and make a purchase by clicking on this link. 

The Making of a Cooperative Portrait!

Now what the heck is a cooperative portrait (I'm sure you are asking yourself)? Well, it is a description I just made up after working with a photographer who is newer to the craft than I am. I wanted an updated photo for my use on the web as well as, possibly, in print.

Brace yourself for this post! I usually aim for short, but this is going to go into some detail for teaching purposes.

When we met on Friday, Annie Clark decided that we could make a shot and just blow things up after cropping down to the head shot I wanted. I explained that we needed to shoot it the way we wanted it to turn out. The reason is that incredible amounts of quality would be lost if we had done it Annie's way as this shot shows the small section of an already small photograph that would have meant:

While this might be an OK snapshot as is, it is far from a formal looking portrait which is what I had in mind. I asked Annie to move closer, but she was still holding the camera in a horizontal fashion so the following shots were recorded:

Do you see how much of an improvement just moving in a little closer makes? As a matter of fact, for almost all of the photos you take, once you think you are close enough, take at least 3 steps forward and see if you don't notice a big improvement.

As a matter of fact, a famous Twentieth Century photographer by the name of Robert Capa said, "If your pictures aren't good enough, you aren't close enough." 

On to the next point: Formal portraits frequently are taken vertically, or "portrait mode." I simply asked Annie if she would feel comfortable turning her camera to that position. When she did it, these are some of the images that resulted:

We tried some without glasses, then some with glasses. But reflections from uncontrolled natural light resulted and rather than work out that problem, I knew that we would be best just moving on. 

You may notice that the first 2 of these were taken with Annie holding the camera enough higher than my head to create an effect of looking down on the subject. Unless you want this as a creative effect, you are better off lowering your camera a bit so that you are more on eye level.

Annie took a total of 37 shots of me -- several more than I think she really wanted to! But I knew we still had not likely gotten "the" shot. In the end, we had and this is the straight out of the camera version:

Photo by Annie Clark

Not too shabby, right? But not finished to my photographer's eye either. After retouching this shot, this is the avatar you get:

And this is more the size it will be seen:

I told Annie that I would be giving her the photo credit, but once she saw the retouching, she said she thought it should be co-credit. Let me know what you think before March 1st. That is the day I will be posting it to my site.

Finally, if you would like detailed step by step instructions on my retouching process, please use the contact form on my website (jeanhendersonart.com) and reference "cooperative portrait." 

Take a look around the site while you are at it and give the gift of art to yourself, loved one, or friend!

Let Lonnie's Light Shine on Dec. 14th at 7PM

Scenes from Lonnie's world:

Quickly loved by all he met

Surrounded by the children he loved to make silly faces with

On a lion walk with Ellyn on his first trip to Zambia

He even made friends on the side of the road...

...and with the kids, too

With Ellyn in Zambia

In front of the temple at Abu Simbel built by Ramses II

Ready to roll....

He made friends everywhere he went

He'd make friends before hitting the check out location, too

The proverbial "selfie with feet" pic from his various travels

He loved the incredible skies of Africa

Invite to Lonnie Henderson's Family and Friends across the globe to light a candle in memory of him on Sunday, December 14, 2014 at 7PM (whenever that reaches your time zone). Leave the candle lit for one hour. This will create a "wave" of light across the world. This will also be the 2 month anniversary of his death.

This is part of the annual World Wide Candle Lighting event sponsored by Compassionate Friends, a self help group for families who have children who have died too soon -- "that their light may always shine." Help to make Lonnie's light shine in a special way on this day and time!

First Day of the Dead Since My Son Left Us

Twelve days ago, we buried my son, Rulon "Lonnie" Henderson. His smile was legendary as was his kindness to strangers as much as to friends. Nineteen days ago, he left us for his new work elsewhere in the Universe.

These nineteen days have been the most difficult of my life so I deeply want to thank all of you who have made Lonnie's passing a bit easier by the incredible outpouring of your love and support. Mostly I am still speechless though some of you know that photography is my hobby -- one that Lonnie fully encouraged. 

From the moment I fell to the ground when the State Trooper gave me the horrible news, I became incapable of making even an acceptable snap shot -- nor did I have any desire to do even that much. But my granddaughter will need memories of this time when her family gathered around her to lift her up in her pain and her silent wondering about how such a thing could even happen to the uncle she loved so much -- so I had to try.

Then, while visiting Lonnie's grave the afternoon of Halloween, I felt that familiar urge to make a picture. Not that I had brought a camera for such a visit mind you! Then I realized that I DID have the iPhone Lonnie had encouraged me to purchased and I hesitantly took it out of my pocket. At first, I just took a picture from a distance, but that style of photography is not my usual one so I moved in closer for the photo above.

Earlier in the week, my granddaughter Justice had visited Lonnie's grave with his partner Ellyn. Together they brought flowers, but Justice also wanted to place a crayon with her Uncle Lonnie. Suddenly, that little crayon grabbed my interest and this photo was made:

For those of you who may have some Christian feeling, this photo -- which contrasts life and death -- may bring you some comfort:

Feel free to download any of these files for use on your digital media. They are not correct for printing though.

Justice is having a show!

Just wanted you all to know that my 7 year old granddaughter is having an art show, together with her teacher, Devon Lawless. It is being held at the Lily Pad Gallery on North St. in Willimantic, CT during the month of September. An artist reception is planned for Thursday, Sept. 11th from 5-7. Come on down if you possibly can! If not, add a comment below so I can share it with Justice and Devon, OK?

At 10 o'clock on the flyer is Justice's "Flying Cat in a Sack with Sixteen Wings." At 6 o'clock is her second attempt at drawing her ballet shoe from life. The exhibit includes three versions of the shoe. "Touch and Go" by Devon is at 2 o'clock. You certainly won't be disappointed by the work of these two ladies so come on down while you can!

Because Justice loves to draw, I sought out an art teacher who would be sensitive to the fact that Justice's mother is in jail for a couple of years -- someone who could help her process her feelings about this significant loss in her life. Devon Lawless, whose own Mom passed a couple of years ago, has taken Justice under her artistic wing and provided multiple opportunities for Justice to experiment and explore with a wide variety of media including watercolors, watercolor pencils, acrylic, crayon, colored pencils and more. Sometimes they work from imagination, and sometimes from life or even with tracing paper. Together they have developed a special bond.

Inaugural Exhibit Now at Lebanon Art Gallery in Connecticut

Several of my photos are currently on display at the new Lebanon Art Gallery which is being operated by over 30 involved artists on the property of Sandra Samolis. Open from Noon to 6PM Fridays through Sundays, this exhibit features over 70 different works that include a broad variety of media -- from oils, acrylics, watercolors, to woodturning and welding. Works will be on display until July 27th with a new exhibit beginning August 8th.

For this show I decided to stay with a water theme. SO, in addition to seeing my popular "Boat Reflection," you will also see "Tide Water," "Rockland Harbor," and "Dusk at the Portland Headlight." Online is a great way to view these images, but nothing beats "seeing them in the flesh." Stop by 927 Trumbull Hwy (Rt. 87 just south of the Lebanon Green) to see for yourself.

Tide water

Rockland Harbor

Dusk at the Headlight

To view my some of my other work, click here.

Visit my sales fulfillment site for a small selection of my work, complete with mats and your choice of frame, by clicking here.

My Photo Receives Award

My "Post Storm Sunset" photo received a Special Recognition Award in the Light Space & Time Online Art Gallery's June 2014 competition and resulting art exhibition called "Landscapes."  The gallery received submissions during the month of May from 18 different countries from around the world. They also received entries from 36 different states. Overall, there were 587 entries which were judged for this art competition. 

This image is available for sale as either a small, medium or large print with the large size measuring 12x18 inches on 13x19 paper. Contact me at jeanhenderson5@gmail.com. Or, view my other works at jeanhenderson.zenfolio.com.