Balloons of celebration and balloons of mourning.

Last week I shot lots of balloons - water balloons at a church carnival, and helium balloons released at a memorial park by families who had lost loved ones in the past year.

Carnival shots first.

This is sort of a mini-dunk-tank game, so instead of having a water tank, when the ball hits the target, water balloons pop onto the victim's head.










Then I photographed a balloon release ceremony at Conejo Mountain in Camarillo.








When I photograph mourning families, I always try to be very sensitive to their grief. Sometimes your job as a photojournalist is to get the 'grieving family' shot no matter what. You have to swallow your empathy and intrude on their private moment. But whenever possible, I try to make compassionate photographs and if a family member hides their face, turns away, etc, I prefer to respect their wishes. I'm very sensitive to the wish for privacy at events like this. But occasionally, I come across people who seem not to mind being photographed, but then snarl at me when I ask for their names. This was one of those.

I made a few very sweet frames of this mother and daughter, holding each other, looking at this photo, with their balloons. When I approached to ask their names and reason for attendance, the mother nearly pushed me away and snapped "No. NO! It's different when it's a child."

While I very much sympathize with her grief, I often wish I could explain to people in this situation that as she is attending a public event, I may use the photograph no matter what. If she gives me her name I can publish a beautiful photo with a sensitive caption that explains her reason for grieving, something that she can clip from the paper and keep with her memories of the loved one she lost. Something that might help the process.







This photo ended up running on the front page of the Camarillo Acorn. I only wish I could have spoken to the mother and added a sensitive, empathetic caption rather than just using a generic that talked about the event.

Anyway.

Let's end on a positive note. Here are a pair of shots from the Conejo Valley Days carnival.