The Simple Photographer

These are the greatest pair of vintage sunglasses. I picked them up yesterday at Round Top/Warrenton and enjoyed wearing them the rest of the day.

Are they funky or what? There are no arms to the things, just chains with disks on the end. The chains hang over the back of your ears. The weight of the disks keeps the sunglasses in place and look like earrings. You can even bend over and tie your shoe, and the glasses won't fall off of your face. I love them because I can wear them over my own real glasses.

A fun gal named Anna Harney was selling them. She says email her at aesler@airmail.net if you'd like a pair. No, I didn't get a discount for saying that!

But only half of this post is about the sunglasses. The other half is about photography. As lovely as this stranger and I look wearing our bling, something is different about that woman! She has an orange and black bubble hat on that I didn't notice when I was talking with her. And I have wood shooting out of my head. My photographer didn't realize that the objects in the background would attach themselves to our heads.

Another example of background 'noise' ruining a photo is this picture of our cousin Mark in front of our longhorn over the mantle. With ears dripping strands of barbwire, he's totally oblivious to how foolish he looks. Remember, it is up to the photographer to make sure his/her subjects look presentable.

So, photographers, take the time to check backgrounds in your pictures. Also observe and fix crooked collars, necklace clasps in the wrong place, messy hair, and even smudged makeup and taco salad in their teeth.

Oh, and try to have your subject's eyes open. By this time we were laughing so hard at dear Mark, that we couldn't get him to stand still for another try at the shot.

You're a good sport, Mark.

UPDATE: A dear friend, who shall remain nameless, pointed out another bad shot RIGHT ON MY OWN BLOG. Now that's a true friend. I mean, who but a good friend will tell you about the spinach in your teeth or the snot in your nose! (For the other bad shot see Theresa on Sept. 28. She has a doll coming out of her head! Too funny.) Thanks for the laugh, friend. It's another case of do what I say and not what I do!