{CLICK}STYLE: August 2014

I can't think of any better way to start off our

{Fan Features}, then this wonderful series from,

Gina Cooperman of Joy Alexander Photography.

It comes just in time as a good reminder for us to look back on

all the fun, and things we learned this summer.

Here is what Gina had to say,

As a working photographer, those few times that I truly get to dedicate to personal projects are precious. The series "Learning to Swim" was inspired by my own kids who were testing the waters without the safety of floaties for the very first time this year. From that first dip of the toes into the pool, to the very first cannon ball, this project took on a whole new meaning as I watched them enter new territory...all from the water. As a mom and photographer, capturing it from beneath the surface served two purposes: It made sure that we all remember that sense of wonder and excitement as they grow, and it gave me an artistic outlet to attempt something I hadn't done before...

Photography is meant to preserve memories and emotions so that they will live on, long after they have been forgotten. These few showcased as part of this series, are essential childhood to me. Taking little steps into a great, big unknown...and, they are certainly memories that I want to live on and ones that I hope will not be forgotten.

Check out more of Gina's wonderful work here.

Joy Alexander Photography

" I am going to have to take a look at those pictures on your camera Ma'am"

Yes, this is what I heard from the police officer standing on my front porch at 9:30 at night. I usually get uptight when a client asks to see all the pictures in my camera, but when the police officer asks it is a whole different story. I was glad to show him every single one. Even if that meant he had to look at over 40 shots of a toad, and about 25 of my son hanging out in the car seat.

our photo that day.

If you are interested in hearing the before to this story, I suggest you grab a coffee, I am known to write a little too much and this could get long. Important things to keep in mind though, if you are a photographer you will understand this story perfectly. It may even hit home with you, as we have seen far too much judgment from the world lately on our social networking and I fear this is going to be a long battle between us photographers and society. Or, it may make you giggle. It made a lot of my friends giggle about it, and I can laugh about it too now. If you are one of those society members please try and keep an open mind while reading. I understand that you don't understand what we do, but this message is important for you to hear. Either way have an open mind to the other side of the debate.

I am a photographer who enjoys taking lifestyle photos of my kids being kids, no big deal. Every once in a while there ends up being a bath or sprinkler photo with little toddler bum, but for the most part it is just photos of us being us. When I am not taking lifestyle shots I like to squeeze in something more creative. Well let me tell you, the last session we attempted to do left me feeling so crushed I almost quit photography all together. All because society's choice to judge me without asking a single question first. Let me explain.

everyday life,

something a little more creative.

My daughter recently got a huge stuffy snake from a trip we went on. We decided to wait until late afternoon sun and hit the park forest for a Adam and Eve mini session. We figured nobody would be at the park and she wore a long wig that covered her chest (she is 7 years old), and bathing suit bottoms and we wrapped her snake around her, apple in hand and heading into the wilderness.

The session did not last long, only 3 pictures taken to be exact. Now if you are a photographer and have kids who you pose and take photos of this will be familiar to you. My daughter started getting attacked by mosquitoes, and of course the moss covered stump we had picked out to sit on had a dead bug on it. She screamed over the sight of the bug and starting crying about the mosquitoes biting her, so we decided to come out of the forest and give up. It was not worth it. We came out of the forest and discovered that a mother had showed up with her kids, My other daughter was talking to the mom's little girl and playing, and my modeling daughter took off her wig, threw her shirt back on, and found a toad in her skirt. She brought the toad over to show me and we spent the next little while taking toad photos. After that, we left the park, and said goodbye to the little girl and mother. Then we went to town got a family movie, came home, got set up, and played the movie.

The little toad she found.

That is when the knock came to the door. My husband answered and within 2 minutes, came back in to get me saying "There is a police officer at the door and you need to bring your camera". My heart literally stopped, why, well because in that moment I realized how that whole scene would of looked to someone watching from the outside. I have to admit, if I knew nothing about photography and was back in my cell phone selfie days I might of looked at a mother bringing a wigged half naked girl into the forest, where I then heard the child crying, a whole lot differently. I can understand the concerning thoughts going through the bystanders mind. I can understand their need to want to protect this child and I am happy to know I live in a town were others are going to look out for the well being of a child. I think as photographers we see these things as art, were society still is not there yet, if they did see it as art, well they would be photographers too. We need to cut them some slack and understand were they are coming from sometimes. Maybe that person had an experience when they were younger that left them scared to seeing the beauty in what we see. Either way they were just trying to help. I am grateful the police officer saw the humor in the whole situation, he was very polite about it. He was even laughing at how many toad pictures I had. Then he left telling us to have a goodnight. I bet I am going to be the case he jokes about for a while in the police lunch room.

This is what I don't understand. Why would you not come to me and ask a few questions. Even just a simple "Hello, oh I see you have a camera, are you a photographer?" and upon this question I would have been happy to give my website page, where this person could of looked me up and seen nothing but candy stores and fishing with my kids.There is this apostle in the Bible called Thomas, Thomas asked a lot of questions, and Jesus told him asking questions is not a bad thing. If you are a person reading this article and are not a photographer and don't understand the crazy lengths we go to for art, then I am just asking you that before you judge, before you pick up the phone to waste more of a police officers time, do a little research. I live in a small town where mostly everyone knows how crazy Crystal always has her camera out ready to snap. By just simply asking around that person could of found out easily it was nothing to be worried about. But that is the way of society, we fear, and judge the things we don't understand. There is nothing wrong with being your own investigator before you potentially ruin someones reputation, and have the police show up at their door at 9:30 at night scaring their children, making them think they did something wrong. I can only imagine that regardless of what the police told this caller about who I was and how innocent the whole thing was, they still could be telling all their friends about the scene they saw at the park, and that is the last thing I need seeing as I am a daycare provider and a Sunday school teacher along with being a photographer. The clients, and the parents I deal with trust me with the most important people to them in the whole world, their children, and I would never treat that honor in any inappropriate way. That is just not who I am.

"candy stores,

and fishing with my kids."

I do find it a little ironic the events of this day, seeing as we were doing a Adam and Eve session, and that is the whole lesson in that story. It caused me to think to myself about where we would of been as a society if Eve never listened to that snake, if she never bit that apple. It was that apple that then made her view her body as being something to be ashamed of. Of being something she had to hide from Adam, and then also from God that day he came walking through the Garden of Eden. What a lesson to teach our children, here I was trying to empower my daughter about loving her body and being comfortable in her own skin, and it all came crashing in my face as she watched a police man come to our door over how she was dressed in the park. She now is worried about wearing a bikini in fear of upsetting someone, even though it is not her fault. It is my fault for being too busy in life to take one second to go over and talk to the onlookers about what we were doing.

I think we need to take a page from the Bible. I think we need to start viewing our bodies as beautiful works of art. Not as something to be ashamed of. I see so many of my fellow photographers getting their social pages shut down over showing their toddlers little bum, or their little girl with no shirt on. I understand that society does not understand why you would put your child on social networking for all to see like that. But honestly those are not the photos that people are looking for that want to view them for inappropriate use. They have other ways of gaining the photos they want. I also don't understand how you see photos of a baby bum and automatically see them in a pornographic way. If you are unhappy with what you see delete that person's page then, and just be happy it is not your child in that photo if it offends you. One more thing, if you see someone in daylight with a camera doing something you call into question, the best thing you can do is go ask for their card. Do your research before you jump the gun. If you are a photographer and you plan to go do a mini session in the future bring a business card along, pass them out to everyone you see because it will save your reputation in the end. I sure do wish I did this.

And remember, just because Adam & Eve ate the apple, does not mean we have to as well. Maybe then so many of us would not be censoring innocence.

Thanks for reading,

Crystal Raynard Photography