I shot these photos on Thursday, October 28, 2010. From left to right my models are Snapper Humphries, Demirae, Denmark, and Kyle Escobar. Kyle is Snapper's partner and Demirae and Denmark are their children that they adopted. I actually met Snapper the day of the shoot, that was the first time I had ever seen him. The way I met Snapper was through my mom. I told her that I needed models for a photo shoot and when I said that I needed a family she thought of Snapper. My mom is a surgery scheduler and Snapper works at Scripps Mercy and that's how they knew each other, although they never officially met.
Snapper and Kyle's story (how they adopted their children): I believe that when they adopted Denmark it was a normal adoption. But for Demirae it was a different story. One of the great things is that Denmark and Demirae are biological brother and sister. Snapper and Kyle had already adopted Denmark when one night they got a call from the hospital saying "The mother of your son just gave birth to a daughter, do you want her? If you want her you need to come get her right now." They rushed to the hospital and adopted Demirae. Snapper was holding Demirae's car seat and the nurses wheeled Snapper out in a wheelchair just like they do for the mothers. I find it sad that they were put up for adoption but I'm so happy that Snapper and Kyle adopted them. They have an adorable family.
I got the idea for this photo shoot when I saw an article reporting that homosexual couples can now adopt children in Florida. Some people believe that by allowing homosexual couples to adopt children that 2 things can happen 1. by being raised by homosexuals the child turns out being homosexual. I have a problem with that because not being straight is not a choice. You are born with it. Just how people are born straight people are born gay. The other thing that people think might happen is 2. the reason homosexual people adopt is because they are pedophiles and want a child to be a sex slave or something. Both of those beliefs are ridiculous! Just because you're not straight does not mean that you are a pedophile. I believe that gay people should have the right to adopt. It's best for the child to have a family than grow up all alone with no family. Gay people are the exact people who should adopt. They can't have their own children so what's so wrong with adoption?
Okay so now that I'm done ranting on to talking about the picture. I used the black background because 1. it's my favorite background, 2. I feel it looks nicer, and 3. it's much cleaner and you can't see footprints as well as you can on the white background. I had them sit on the red couch/stool thing because many of the family portraits I've seen the people are sitting down. My idea did change a bit but it did mostly stay the same. The only thing that changed was that instead of using tungsten lights Ms. Miles said that I should use strobe because of how small the children are and that children tend to fidget around a lot and can't keep still. By using the strobe I was able to stop the motion. I had never shot professional type family portraits so I wasn't really sure how to direct them. I first had Snapper and Kyle sitting on the couch thing while Snapper held Demirae and Kyle held Denmark. After a few of them like that I let them move around and position themselves and I'm happy I did that or else I wouldn't have gotten the shot above.
The feeling of this picture is actually happy! It'll probably be the happiest picture I have in my series. I can't find any dark side to this picture! It's just too adorable! The only "dark" part that people might find is that the parents are gay. But I can't find anything dark and depressing about it which is great! With the other shoots after I shot the pictures and when I was editing them I would get kind of depressed and just wish that things were different but with this picture I was so happy! I was like "Oh my god I love this family. It's so cute. Life is great. *Nods* Everything's going to be okay." It actually gave me more hope which I really needed. Unfortunately these happy pictures will not continue. My next photo shoot is about suicide...... But I hope you enjoyed the pictures!
Bye :D
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