Walking in Beauty: My Favorites

By Glenn B. Jenks

Occasionally a friend will ask me which of my tens of thousands of photos are my favorites and why. To me every one of my photos has a story and the story of a photo has as much to do with how I feel about each photo. And sometime the photos with at the best story are not technically the best photos and vice versa. Having said all of that here are a few of my favorites and the stories that go with them

Woman in dugout canoe

“The Lady of Benin” by Glenn B. Jenks

The tiny country of Benin in West Africa, is where the first two photos were taken. This lady in her canoe passed by some netting that created a perfect frame for the subject of the photo. I was just lucky that she had a bright red head covering that highlighted the muted colors in the rest of the scene.

boy sitting on bow of boat on river

“Pondering” by Glenn B. Jenks

 

This boy is sitting on the front of his family canoe looking out over the only world he has ever known and probably ever will know. Because I shot the photo from directly behind the boy, we get to see what he sees from the same angle he sees it and are left to ponder what it is that he is pondering in this quiet moment

woman's face

“The Lady I Wish I Had Met” by Glenn B. Jenks

 

Now to Ecuador where I took many photos of people, but none more appealing than this lady. Her traditional dress, her expression, her eyes and the wrinkles on her face make me want to know her, but I never did. This was a candid shot in a crowd and suddenly she was gone.

Swan on water spreading wings

“The Swan” by Glenn B. Jenks

 

While on a trip to Michigan a few years ago to visit some family, I went out to a small lake and a group of swans. I took a shot of the whole group and then one cropped this image from the lager image. Next, the cropped image into a monochromatic image and used sepia to finish the image.  There is a graceful elegance in the pose the swan gave me.

 

Elderly woman hugging her horse

“The Last Goodbye” by Glenn B. Jenks

 

The lady in this photo devoted her whole life to caring for horses, hers and those owned by others. She operated a stable where she taught countless children and adults the joy of to riding horses. Eventually age and declining health caught up with her and one by one all of the horses she cared for were taken to other stables my their owners. Finally only one horse was left and it belonged to her, It was a avery emotional scene andI was asked to photograph t he horse on the day the new owner came to take it away. I was able to capture this tender and tearful goodbye. I treasure this image.

 

African children looking out door

“Let Me See” by Glenn B. Jenks

We go back to Africa into at the slums of Nairobi where a group of boys who seem to have heard that white people were inside a shack poked their heads in to see what we looked like. As they appeared at the doorway I turned and pushed at the shutter.

 

photographers at grand canyon

“Two Photographers” by Glenn B. Jenks

I have taken many photos of the Grand Canyon, but this is my favorite.  One cold morning in late September two photographers set out to photograph Imperial Point on the North Rim at dawn The photographer in the photo focussed on Imperial Point. The second focussed on the first photographer as he focussed on Imperial Point. These two photographers never met and never saw each other’s photos. But these two people have one thing in common. They both froze their respective “wazzus” to get a photograph.

 

Sometimes your favorite photos are the ones to got by luck others by pain-staking preparation. In either case keep you camea handy and “Walk in Beauty “ always.

Related Articles

Walking in Beauty – Published 01/30/2014  (Provides  links to all Walking in Beauty articles

Author: Glenn B. Jenks

Glenn B. Jenks is a retired Episcopal Priest and a former lawyer. Glenn writes that with retirement he "now has the opportunity to pursue his life-time passion as a professional photographer." In addition to taking photographs, he also, upon request, teaches photography to individuals and groups. Jenks is a resident of North Phoenix, Readers can view more samples of his fine art and portrait photographs at www.glennbjenksphoto.com and contact him at glenn@glennbjenksphotography.com or 602-301-2702.

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