January 13, 2012

Family Vacation to St. Louis















































I was born and raised in St. Louis. Well, I lived there until I was 16. It is the longest I've ever lived anywhere. I traveled there with my family back in Sept and met up with my brother and his family. We still have a handful of relatives on my dad's side who live there as well. It was wonderful being able to be together and hang out. We went to the Arch, caught a Cardinal's game (before we knew they would win the world series), went to Happy China (they still remembered us as we went there EVERY Sunday after church with my dad for YEARS), Eckert's Orchard to pick apples/peaches, the Zoo, Ted Drewes, visited our old house my dad built on Ballas Rd (11910 Sackston Ridge Dr in Creve Couer), swam at the hotel pool, and hung out with cousins/family.

I can not recommend enough to photographers that if you want to better your craft, and refine your vision, shooting your vacations/personal work is absolutely key. I did not have the camera the whole time for sure, but I truly believe the worst photo of your family/loved ones is the one you never took.

This was all taken on a Mamiya RZ Pro II with a 110 f/2.8 lens. The super wide shots at the arch are with the 50mm f/4.5 lens. All shot on expired Kodak Portra 160NC circa 2002.

8 comments:

Kids Resources said...

Lovely family, cool pictures and awesome photography. :)

Tom Wright said...

John your outlook is refreshing. Your so honest and you share everything you have, I'm honestly in awe.

Tom

Melinda said...

I really enjoyed these. The way you capture your family and what you see is honest and inspiring. Also, I think your children are darling and Ruby's freckles are so cute!

Gaybuh said...

Jon, what a great set of images...such a great little story going through them. Looks like another wonderful family trip :)

ellen said...

I'm going to LA (where I was born/raised) in 2 weeks and I'm really excited to take lots of photos because I haven't been back in nearly 20 years and I wasn't a photographer back then. :) I just bought a new 4gb camera card to take with me.

Jigar said...

Lovely photos! I'm with you on taking photos of family as much as possible. Love your quote "The wort photo of your family/loved ones is the one you never took". Thanks for sharing.

Aryan Aqajani said...

Loved all the photographs, lovely family and lovely moments, well done.

Casey McFarland Photography said...

Anytime I feel like not picking up a camera I come to your blog and it recharges my batteries every single time. I have taken sooooooo many more pictures of my family as a result. Thank you!