I was tasked with an assignment to photograph one of my family members for an assignment in HS. I was a high school junior and I selected my little brother Joey and his pal (I don’t remember his name).  I laid on my back on the concrete driveway at our house and they performed antics all around me. It was a lot of fun until Joey’s friend did a spit bomb on my lens.

Joey had a tough childhood. He had a slight learning disability, and I tell you what, being a kid is hard enough without a learning disability. I like this photograph because he is having a good time. He was an awesome kid.

Joey’s doing great now. He got a college education, a wife and two sweet little girls too.

I printed this picture in my home darkroom but was unsatisfied with the bald sky. I had an idea. I went outside and photographed the cloudy sky. I processed the film to the sounds of INXS and after dinner I made this print. It’s a double exposure done in the darkroom. I exposed the paper with the negative of Joey and his pal and then I exposed the paper to the negative of the sky.

You can see where the cloud is dark on his friends face. I tried my best to help that from happening but let me ask you this… Do you think you’d have noticed if I didn’t bring it up?

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Photo tips, philosophical data and technical information

Camera used: Vivitar v335 (out of production) tri-x film, 28mm lens

If I don’t shoot for a while. When I don’t do that I lose my “feel” of the way an image is collected through the lens. It only takes me a few moments to get it together but when I shoot every day I start to really get a sense of what I’m looking for.

I heard about a virtuoso of a violin when I was in high school I determined to do the same with my camera. I don’t know how you determine that but when the technical concerns are way in the background and you work without constraints you are getting close.

-Jon Ball is a photographer living in Boise Idaho. His website of portrait photography is www.studiojonball.com. Thank you for reading photo tips.