A Quan Ha Photo .com

Here are the two loves of my life — Angela and Zella. Believe it or not, this was a candid shot. Angela didn’t know I was going to snap it. How this shot came about was a complete surprise. I was busy shooting Christmas photos of Mia and Kaya in the living room. I had the whole set up going — 1 speedlite shooting through an umbrella, high camera left with a silver reflector camera right and slightly behind the subject to provide fill. The Christmas tree was lit up in the background and the subjects were placed a few feet away. I had the 70-300mm telephoto lens going to provide a nice DOF bokeh effect (reminder to myself to post a pic from that session). Well anyways, during a break in shooting Kaya, I noticed Angela off to the side with Zella. Zella was wrapped up cozily in grandma’s blanket and Angela was adoring her in her arms. Just as I had the thought to snap a photo, Angela was bringing Zella in for a kiss. With zero time to reset the lighting and just a bit longer than zero to snap, I snapped away. After a slight post process action, this is the result. A bit of luck was definitely involved here. I’m sure the light from the umbrella was able to feather all the way over to where Angela and Zella were. Then getting lucky with the background — the LCD tv providing a nice black seamless background. I’m at the stage of my photographic journey where being lucky is something I can truly appreciate.

This is one of my most favorite photos. I know Zella will enjoy looking at this when she gets older.