Animals: Lazy polar bear

Lazy polar bear , originally uploaded by seraan78.

Lolly gagging polar bear!

People: Shelby, a friends daughter

Shelby, a friend's daughter, originally uploaded by denny.lyon.

From my portrait phase:

On a fall picnic with her family and us, Shelby was busy showing off her athletic ability - walking on logs over the stream. She's all grown up now and out of college.

People: The woman and the rose

Photo by Denny Lyon

My friend Robin at the end of the fall afternoon when we were shooting. On the way back to the car she saw these perfect roses and wanted to pose with them - so she did! I like to be spontaneous and offer my people the opportunity for ideas of how they would like to be portrayed. The synergy is awesome!

People: Robin's portrait in the trees

Photo by Denny Lyon

My friend Robin was just 19 years old here. Her favorite hobby was the Renaissance Festival and created her own costumes. She was six feet tall and yet didn't feel pretty.

So, since I was in my portrait and art phase I convinced her I could show her just how pretty she really was. We spent one fall afternoon at Stone Mountain, Georgia state park and the rest is history. She looked lovely and her confidence grew. That was in the mid-80's.

At this time I never used a flash for portraits whether they were indoors or outdoors. I just worked with the natural lighting no matter what the conditions. People are more relaxed to model for portraits too if you aren't sticking bright lights in their faces making them uncomfortable and artificial. This autumn light under the canopy of trees that early afternoon was soft and wonderful!