Creating a story in one photograph can sometimes be quite the challenge, and I'm super excited to be joining a group of photographers from all over the world who will share one storytelling image each month. With the image the photographer will share some background information as well, camera settings used, the thought process going into the image, or why they chose that frame for the story. So, without further ado here is my first image that I'd like to share in the Storytellers Blog Circle.

two-sisters-boarding-eva-airlines-airplane-in-taipei-by-rebecca-hunnicutt-farren-photography

Anyone who follows my photography online (Thank you so much if you do so!!) knows that my family is very blessed to travel the world for work, fun, and to see family. We actually have really good systems in place as a family for travel and unless we're running late (it does still happen occasionally) flying is actually a very normal and low stress activity for us. And, I LOVE (much to the chagrin perhaps of my fellow travelers) to photograph my two daughters as these little travelers. An image of my girls boarding a plane has been on my mental photography list for some time, but it can actually be quite challenging. A lot of it has to do with when we board, how busy it is, the temperament of my girls, how much stuff I have or if someone is asleep needing to be carried (this is quite the challenge actually as my girls are growing too big now to be carried down the aisle while I wear my big photographer/computer backpack!). But, it's not every day that you get to fly on a Hello Kitty Airplane, and I wanted to attempt to capture as much of that cool experience as possible.

This is definitely one of those times where you are shooting a bit on the fly and must act quick. Also, the boarding door location can have a huge variety of lighting options to shoot in based on the jetway, time of day, and amount of sunshine. Here the day was overcast and there was very minimal natural light around.

As we were walking towards the door I slowed down to get a bit of space between us, and asked the girls to hold hands. I knew that they would pause for a minute and slowly climb into the plane together so I wasn't so worried about having a high shutter speed to pause the action. When traveling I often only have my Canon 24-70 f2.8ii lens, which is what I used here, at 24mm. I chose to use f2.8, 1/320, and my ISO was fairly high at 4000 (but as I said there was NO natural light here and the day was very cloudy - and incidentally I did not adjust my exposure in post processing). I just looked at my meter to adjust the ISO as we approached and paused briefly taking only 5 images as they boarded the plane. This was the last image in the set.

There is a LOT of color going on in this image, but I feel like that adds a bit of a unique feel to the image as it's not every day that you get to board a plane with pink all over it. And, I love the different small elements of the story and layers going on as well. My oldest daughter looking back at her sister to see that she's ok. The two flight attendants with big smiles looking towards my girls, layered with the flight attendant hard at work inside the plane in the galley as well as another passenger further inside making her way onto the plane. There are lines from the jetway leading up to the door, where my daughters are perfectly framed and in motion with their bent knees and soles of the shoes showing. You can get a sense of our location in Asia with the Chinese characters on the jetway, and a little bit of humor with the giraffe and penguin staring back at me, almost asking "where are we headed now".

I hope that you have enjoyed this little peak into the how and why I created this image as well as what I love about it. Please check out the amazing work of Kelly Marleau from Edmonton Canada by heading on over to her blog and checking out her storytellers post for the month of March, and be sure to follow the storytellers blog circle for additional storyteller posts!!