by Gary Fong
Photographer: Billy Weeks, www.billyweeks.com
Click photo to enlarge

Day in and day out, year after year, Billy Weeks has made “something out of nothing” at the Chattanooga Times Free Press.  He’s been doing it so long, that he’s almost forgotten how to make “something out of something”.

But given the situation, the lighting, the mood…that “something” in Billy’s camera, turns into “something extraordinary”.  Mr. Weeks is a photographer with a sensitive eye to light and mood.  Maybe it’s the years of experience that allow him to see when the right moment has arrived. With academic dispatch, he quietly makes a few selective exposures, rather than machinegun it to death with the motor drive.
 

Now for the Nit Picking
 

He must have put on his mood and mystic lens…cause it’s such a delicate image.  Low light, hand held, at a 1/10th of a second and wide-open…waiting for the right moment.

Machineguns and motor drives are noisy and disruptive during silent motion.  A sensitive photographer, in tune with the subject, will make pictures that do not interrupt the flow of the mood.

But what’s missing is the detail in the face of the infant.  I would think dodging the area about 15% (three wide passes using a 5% dodging tool in PhotoShop) would just about do it. The print needs to show enough detail in the child’s face to give an impression of innocence.

The mother’s expression is classic.  The lighting on her face is all so very delicate. Billy must have folded up his lights or never considered bring them out.  I’m sure the light changed in a matter of minutes.

Her face could be just a shade lighter with detail.  The viewer’s eye should gravitate to the mother’s facial expression, then drift off to the baby and other parts of the frame. However, the attention for the viewer’s eye competes with the mother’s face and the light part of the wall lit up by window light.  If he burned it down area about 40%, that would change the balance back to the women’s face.

Writers tell me, ever once in a while a story comes along that writes itself.  In photography, every once in a while, an image shows up in front of your lens…all that is required of the photographer is to make one exposure.