I’ve often agreed with the axiom that youth is wasted on the
young. As I have grown older I have
noticed a slowing down of sorts. Oh, I still have moments where I can recall,
when required, the energy reserves which lie dormant most of the time. And I
still find it hard to recognize the old guy I see in the mirror every morning.
Locked deep within the recesses of my memories resides the young man who was
energetic and full of adventure…way back when. He’s still there, sort of mostly,
just suppressed and not allowed to surface as often as he would like. Although
my physical youth left me many years ago, my emotional youth is still alive and
for some strange reason I believe I am still that young guy from years ago.
Those thoughts often get me into trouble when I tempt fate believing I can
still do the things I once could do. So when an opportunity presents itself to
rekindle that dormant youthful spirit, I will occasionally allow myself to
pursue the moment.
Two or three times a year our photography group will do a
model shoot where we offer a few young folks the opportunity to get some free
location portraits made. All they have to do is use their energetic youthful
spirit and allow us older geriatric types, an opportunity to use our
photographic skills. All of us have a great time with it and the models are
always delightful and full of energy. By the end of the shoot, we the
photographers are worn out, but the young folks, well, they are off and running
toward some other adventure and never seem to skip a beat. If I think back real
hard, I can almost remember being that way myself at one time.
On a recent Saturday one of those amazing spring days
greeted us. With temperatures in the upper 70’s and a nice breeze stirring
through the shady trees, a group of us met on the Western Kentucky University
campus for our first model shoot of the year. On a normal model shoot we
usually have two or three maybe four models at best, but on this day we ended
up with ten…we only had seven photographers, so there were plenty to go around.
I invited two young ladies I know to join us, both of whom are delightful and
lovely.
Over the course of three hours they proved to us again just
how energetic they are and hundreds of images were taken. It is interesting to
see the different photographic styles employed. Those with a studio background
reflect that thought process in their photographs. Those of us with a nature
background, tend to employ more nature elements to our portraits. One of the
photographers leans toward an edgy fashion style and his photos certainly
reflect it in the poses and angles he uses. I tend to use a more informal style
and allow the models to perform in their natural manner giving direction only
to change the mood or energy "…look over this way, your right shoulder…no, your
other right…tilt your head this way…big smile…soft smile…think about your first
kiss…look up…look down…close your eyes". It’s a lot of fun to see them respond
and begin to have fun with it. When they are having fun, they loosen up and
look more natural and that makes our job as photographers much easier, but it fun to inneract with them. "…wow…what a shot!...that was a great one, but I missed it…so let’s try it
again…got it…!" 
With ten models and only three hours, there was no way to
effectively shoot all ten of them, but we did the best we could and all of them
were able to get some very nice images. By midday we the photographers were
worn out. All of us had so much fun, I almost forgot how old I was. Being
around those energetic young folks transported me back to another day and time
and I saw myself reflected in their lives. They were great sports, polite, and
genuinely enjoyed what they were doing. Although I stay in reasonably good
shape physically, there are other kinds of exercise required to remain young at
heart. That would be to exercise your sense of perspective and place into
context all the years of experience it took to get where you are now. 
To get
this far one requires a bit of a youthful attitude and it helps to have a
cheerful one along the way. These young folks with their energy and adventurous
spirit, without even knowing it, helped to cheer up and encourage an older
generation of photographers simply by reminding us about our own youthful past.
They were grateful to get a few photos. We were grateful to share in a few
moments of their youthful energy. http://www.sunnysixteen.org/gallery3/index.php/Keith_Bridgman/Model-Shoot-514
Keith
