Ariana's Photos (Mentoring a young photographer)

Inspiring thread, Chris.

And something that more older/aging photographers can practice: finding those a generation or two younger with desire to learn, providing them with gear you're not really using and giving critical/encouraging time as an informed eye.

I'd love to see more RFFotographers follow your example. Those who have lots of cameras and no children or grandchildren; those who'd like to share their enthusiasm for seeing, composition, processing, development; those who have noticed this or that kid's or pack of teens' fascination with their 'ancient' film camera on the street. They, we, can give back.

During the past year, after my longtime wife's death, I made an effort to honor her example of mentorship to younger women by providing three 20-something women photographers with gear, with technical tips, with constructive critical support. One who was fascinated with Vivian Mayer ( and whom I'd known as a child) got my Autocord; one who had developed the mechanical gear bug from college & working in a photography store took home my 1937 Ikonta 520; one who was developing a photography business on a low budget with borrowed gear got my XE1/35 1.4.

It was good for them, and equally good for me. I hope others reading your thread will feel inspired to bear witness by finding a way to do what you've done with Ariana. It's a natural thing to do as a teacher--as you are, as I was--but all that's required is the desire to share or pass along some of your own gifts, surplus, time, attention.

Not to hijack Ariana's thread, of course! let's spread the message more widely too.
 
A great and wonderful story that has brought happiness to at least one. The world should see and hear more like this. Bravo Chris.
 
Chris - this is a wonderful story, keep up the good work.

Ariana - you have a very good eye, keep on shooting and enjoy.
 
rhl-oregon said:
Inspiring thread, Chris.

And something that more older/aging photographers can practice: finding those a generation or two younger with desire to learn, providing them with gear you're not really using and giving critical/encouraging time as an informed eye.

I'd love to see more RFFotographers follow your example. Those who have lots of cameras and no children or grandchildren; those who'd like to share their enthusiasm for seeing, composition, processing, development; those who have noticed this or that kid's or pack of teens' fascination with their 'ancient' film camera on the street. They, we, can give back.

During the past year, after my longtime wife's death, I made an effort to honor her example of mentorship to younger women by providing three 20-something women photographers with gear, with technical tips, with constructive critical support. One who was fascinated with Vivian Mayer ( and whom I'd known as a child) got my Autocord; one who had developed the mechanical gear bug from college & working in a photography store took home my 1937 Ikonta 520; one who was developing a photography business on a low budget with borrowed gear got my XE1/35 1.4.

It was good for them, and equally good for me. I hope others reading your thread will feel inspired to bear witness by finding a way to do what you've done with Ariana. It's a natural thing to do as a teacher--as you are, as I was--but all that's required is the desire to share or pass along some of your own gifts, surplus, time, attention.

Not to hijack Ariana's thread, of course! let's spread the message more widely too.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Robert. I agree with you. There are so many people with such huge amounts of money in gear they don't even use.

We're kind of preaching to the choir here, though. The members of RFF are very generous people. Nine years ago, I suddenly got custody of my son, who was 11 years old at the time. His mother has psychiatric problems and was institutionalized by the state. I had just moved back to my hometown in Indiana after living in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where I had made good money as a photographer.

I had almost no income and could barely afford to feed us. Fort Wayne is a very hostile place for creative people who are not from the "right" families. I've had people here tell me to my face that I would never be allowed to earn a decent living here, because I was "White Trash." I was the 6th person in my family's history to graduate from high school!

I went back to school and earned a masters degree in literature from Indiana University and became, for a few years, a high school teacher. But before that happened, we were POOR. The year after I came back to Indiana, I couldn't even afford to buy my son anything for Christmas. A couple of the moderators here, FrankS and Back_Alley (they're not mods anymore, but are both still active on RFF) found out and secretly organized a collection on RFF to help my son and I. They sent me around $1300, which was an incredible sum of money to me then.

I bought my son a very nice laptop computer with part of the money and used the rest to live on for a while. It was Mack's first computer, and it launched him on the path he's on now. When he graduated from high school in 2015, he received a full scholarship to study Computer Science at Purdue University's Fort Wayne campus! He is 20 years old now and in his third year of study. He's gotten straight A's in all of his CS classes!
 
Good on you Chris. Your photography, your helpful insights for people, and now this.

Ariana - As others have commented, you have a good eye. How you make the colors snap without fighting each other is great. Keep it up. You couldn't have a better mentor/teacher. Please come in and share with us from time to time. Your photos are very pleasing to the eye.
 
I'm building a website for her, so she can put her pics somewhere other than Facebook. I could have told her to go to Flickr or some other photo sharing site, but I think photographers should have their own sites. I earn part of my living doing web development, so it was no big deal for me to do that for her.

The Basic site design is done, we're just adding all her photos now, which will take me a while.

http://nanaboophotography.com

The name, NanaBoo, is a nickname she has had since she was a little girl.
 
A couple weeks ago, Steve, the man who gave Ariana her DSLR, sent her a Canon EF 100mm f2.8 Macro lens! She loves photographing insects and flowers, so that was the perfect lens for her. I also gave her one of my Manfrotto tripods, and she has been using it for all of her work since her medical problems make her hands shaky.

Here's a few of her macro shots:

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For sure Ariana has a good eye and a good mentor.
But is also sure that people like Chris and Robert (rho-oregon) have a great heart.
This thread is inspiring...thanks
robert
 
So inspired to have come across this thread this morning. I hope that Ariana is doing well. She has a wonderful eye for composition. I’m envious.:)
 
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