The assignment for this month is “Fatherhood”. Family Conferences will be doing a social media post on Father’s Day, so they are looking for a nice, authentic photo that illustrates anything that has to do with being a Dad.

Since I was visiting my brother and his family at this time, it was only natural that I would ask if he could be my main subject. At first, I was envisioning something nostalgic. Heartwarming, old-fashioned, almost a shot you’d get from an old Andy Griffith show. There is a lake down the hill from where my brother lives, with a nice pier, and they all love fishing, so I had sepia-toned thoughts going through my head as I was gearing up for the photoshoot.

But a nostalgic fishing trip just didn’t work out! Due to various factors, we decided to go somewhere else instead, which would change the entire look and feel of my photos. Here’s what happened . . .

A trip to the zoo was just as fun as going down to the lake. But instead of “heartwarming”, I was now looking for “fun times together”.

And there were more opportunities because we were in so many different places.

I was expecting most of my shots to be candid, but after following Robert and the family around, it became evident that “picture-perfect moments” just don’t happen easily by themselves. Over the entire day, this is the only truly candid photo that I got that I liked.

And this would be a great gem to walk away with from an afternoon at the zoo. But for what I was doing, I needed more than just one photograph. So I found myself doing a lot more shots that I needed to set up.

Now, I wasn’t posing. Most of the day was just a normal time at the zoo. But when we would arrive at places that I felt were good for pictures or where there was more action, I would ask Robert to intentionally interact with the kids, and sometimes tell them to do specific things or stand in specific places so I could get a better shot.

So, here are some of my “set-up” shots.

This one isn’t a favorite because of the many little problems with it. I love Robert’s expression, and Andrew pointing off into the distance. However, I don’t like that there is no clue as to what they are looking at. I also find it odd that Andrew seems to be pointing to a different thing than Robert is looking at!

This is better, but still not best. So I went around behind them.

This location was rough to work with, the metal fence being in the way.

So I went down and asked them to shift down the walk a bit for a less cluttered background.

This spot was better! I had to wait forever for the elephant to get in the right place, and this shot still isn’t the best, but it’s as good as I could do!

The shot of them at the sign worked really well.

And this was just for fun.

And then this shot is my absolute favorite from the day!

This area was by no means any easier than any of the other locations we were at that day. Same challenges of distracting backgrounds. Room for me to step back and zoom in. A subject for the people to be looking at. But thankfully, they all came together for a split second. And thankfully in focus!

Now It’s Your Turn!

Whether you choose a more candid approach (like I did), a 100% posed photo, or a non-human subject to illustrate the concept, it’s now your turn to photograph “Fatherhood”! Go get the details here. Can’t wait to see your photos!

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