Daddy Daughter Date Night at the Memphis Zoo [Nikon D5, Nikkor 14-24mm ƒ/2.8, ISO 3200, ƒ/4, 1/15 – Godox V860IIN + Godox X1NT]
“Photography is not like painting,” Henry Cartier-Bresson told the Washington Post in 1957. “There is a creative fraction of a second when taking a picture. Your eye must see a composition or an expression that life offers you, and you must know with intuition when to click the camera. That is the moment the photographer is creative,” he said. “Oop! The Moment! Once you miss it, it is gone forever.”
Capturing emotions requires you to feel the mood of the moment. I love this photo of the Chick-fil-A Cows with the daddy and daughter posing for me, while on the left, a dad is taking a selfie of himself and his daughter in front of the Ferris wheel.
When people pull out those phones and take selfies, I notice they are having a great time. They are also working hard to express themselves to match how they feel inside about the whole experience.
Seeing the joy on both dad and daughter as they skate together was great. But I love it even more when there is a little more interaction between people.
When the girl looks up at her dad, you can tell she thinks the world of dad. You can tell she is cherishing this moment.
I also saw dads looking at how much fun their daughters were having.
“Men are motivated when they feel needed while women are motivated when they feel cherished.”
― John Gray, Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus
The little things that dads did for their daughters that night touched me so much. One of the dads had bought a corsage for his daughter to wear. She was so proud of this gesture from her dad. He is setting the standard pretty high for the way she needs to be treated in the future.
Since I have covered Daddy Daughter Date Night since the 2nd one ever held at a Chick-fil-A in Olathe, Kansas, I was pretty much aware of many of the emotions I would experience, just like I know what plays a football team will call after covering them all season.
I was looking for moments when there was a genuine emotional connection between dads and daughters.
Chick-fil-A helped make the moments possible with Cows, Princesses, Ferris Wheel, Carousel, Music with DJ, and so much more.
I couldn’t just snap a photo because I saw and dad and a daughter. I had to wait for the moment between the two of them to start to happen. I had to anticipate those moments.
If you want better inspirational photos, you must start with feeling those moments and then be able to anticipate them to capture them.
“Look and think before opening the shutter. The heart and mind are the true lens of the camera.”
— Yousuf Karsh