Inspire in 300 – Jim Denham

Inspire in 300 is a guest blog series where creative photographers share who and/or what inspires their photography, and in at least 300 words.

Inspiration comes from many sources, like looking at others people’s amazing work or a beautiful sunrise on an amazing landscape, but if I had to pick one thing that makes my blood flow it would be my son, Sammy. Documenting his early years is one of the reasons photography became my passion. Kids like Sam do not hide their emotions or expressions and, even in a span of just a few minutes, they can change many times. From pure joy to total disappointment, his expressions and emotions pull me in, both emotionally and creatively. Capturing that one moment where you can feel what he feels is totally exhilarating and makes me want more.

There’s a utility to it as well. He was born after our move to Minnesota in 2006 with our closest family being 800+ miles away, so we might only see them a couple of times a year. At Sam’s age, things change amazingly fast. Catching that special moment and sharing it electronically allows family and friends to experience what he’s going through and who he is becoming without having to be there. Just the other day, my brother commented that the picture below of Sammy running was the only one he’d seen where he saw me in him. That’s inspiration!

It’s getting harder and harder for me to get pictures of him because he’s pretty tired of dad sticking that camera in his face, but that only fuels the fire by making it more of a challenge. Fortunately, his excitement to play on the slip and slide, or play squirt guns with the neighbor kids is much greater than the aggravation of getting his picture taken, and this excitement becomes the inspiration for me to do it! These moments are a bit less frequent than a year or two ago, but they’re still there and they still grab my heart and inspire me to press the shutter!

Jim Denham