Months ago, an great idea was suggested. Over the New Year, we acted upon it!

I found myself walking down a quaint little street lined with houses headed to a special destination with friends in Connecticut. Golden hour was just around the corner, and the three of us photographers took advantage of the unique opportunity to shoot this month’s Shoot to Serve assignment, Joyful Pictures!

After taking the photos of Daniel jumping, the two of us agreed right there on the beach that this shot was our favorite.

I had never tried to shoot an iconic “jumping for joy” kind of photo before, so I was surprised at how many things there were to consider to making it look “right”.

With something like this, it feels like he was too high above the ground:

With something like this, it almost looked like he was being involuntarily sucked toward the sun in an alien, zero-gravity environment:

With something like this, it feels like he’s half stumbling and half cheering a touchdown.

So, we kept tweaking until we got something we both felt was a score.

Meanwhile, up the shore a little ways, Lydia was turning the beach into a “happy place.” At first, I was wondering how on earth someone could merge “beach” with “opening a present” without it looking out of place. But I didn’t need to worry about that. Leave it to Lydia and her signature backlit style!

And then when Lydia was done, the color in the sky was just right for Sarah to get to work!

While a portrait of someone smiling with a colorful sunset in the background was all that was needed, Sarah’s creativity went deeper.

Look how she used the color reflecting in the water as a background. And joy at sunset doesn’t necessarily have to have a person as a subject!

At first, this assignment might seem like just another “people assignment”. But take a look at the shot list the publisher has given! There are a lot of great photos just waiting to be taken. It’s your turn to go on an adventure of your own for the latest assignment, Joyful Pictures!