If I had to sit down and write out a top ten list of the people I have encountered in Meadville over my years here George Stabile would be on that list. This is a guy I just plain like and like to be around! He is creative, gifted, intelligent, funny and just has a way of experiencing a moment that is un-like most people I've met in life. I got a call from him last night on Christmas Eve with a request to meet he and his family around 1 p.m. on Christmas Day. Now this is how much I like this man. He knew he could call me and ask this and he knew that I would consider it!
So today I got a chance to hang out for about an hour with George and his family and just make some pictures, catch up with them and be a round good people.
I did a story a few years back about Alzheimer's Disease which featured George, his wife Barb and their children as they were faced with the day to day life of having a family member living in their home with AD. They opened their life to me and I got a chance to know them a little more than most reporters get to know the people they write about or even photograph.
So today I felt like I know them all well and I get handshakes and hugs. I have taken a couple of their family photos over the years and each one is different and each one is taken with the idea of capturing the time and personalities of everyone in the family.
I really don't do anything in terms of setting up photographs, i just observe and make pictures of the interactions before me. This is what family photography should be about, all the time. Here are a few of my favorites from today. This family is real and they want to be shown as they are and not as an idealized matching shirts and pants kind of family.
So today I got a chance to hang out for about an hour with George and his family and just make some pictures, catch up with them and be a round good people.
I did a story a few years back about Alzheimer's Disease which featured George, his wife Barb and their children as they were faced with the day to day life of having a family member living in their home with AD. They opened their life to me and I got a chance to know them a little more than most reporters get to know the people they write about or even photograph.
So today I felt like I know them all well and I get handshakes and hugs. I have taken a couple of their family photos over the years and each one is different and each one is taken with the idea of capturing the time and personalities of everyone in the family.
I really don't do anything in terms of setting up photographs, i just observe and make pictures of the interactions before me. This is what family photography should be about, all the time. Here are a few of my favorites from today. This family is real and they want to be shown as they are and not as an idealized matching shirts and pants kind of family.