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http://thenewsdispatch.com/articles/2012/0...d6974740103.txt

A connection of images

MC photographer Bruce Hirsch celebrates 30 years of capturing family portraits

By Lois Tomaszewski
Staff Writer

Published: Sunday, July 15, 2012 5:06 PM CDT

MICHIGAN CITY — If a picture is truly worth a thousand words, then Bruce Hirsch’s work as a portrait photographer the past three decades speaks volumes.

Hirsch and his wife, Linda, both Michigan City natives, are marking Hirsch studio’s 30 years in business this year. According to calculations in the monthly newsletter they send out to clients, one darkroom, 12 cameras, 16 camera lenses and 17,940 rolls of film have paved the journey since Bruce opened his photography business in the basement of his parents’ home.

He started out as a wedding photographer. Once he married Linda 27 years ago, and the couple began raising a family, the demands of the wedding business made it hard for Hirsch to focus on his family.

“Our kids were getting older and getting into all sorts of activities,” Bruce said. “I remember one time I left a soccer game early to go to a wedding. After I left, my son scored his first goal.”

That was a pivotal moment for Bruce. He soon got out of the wedding photography business and settled into focusing on portraits.

“Our motto is ‘family’s always first,” he said. “It has meaning to us, but we have also built our business around it.”

Highlighting that family connection is one of the details Bruce incorporates in his photography. He said he will watch the family dynamics before a shoot, looking for clues as to who the children gravitate to and how the family members interact. When it comes time to pose the family, he keeps these observations in mind. The result is arms interlocked, hands touching, leaning in toward one another or other personal gestures that move the image from simply a photo to a portrait.

Specializing in outdoor settings, particularly the beach or the landscaped and prop-filled gardens outside his studio on Wozniak Road, he also spends at least one week a month in Estero, Fla., near Fort Myers on the Gulf Coast. He reports both locations are still doing well.

Shooting in the outdoors as opposed to a studio requires an understanding of lighting and the ability to work with what is there, Bruce said. The best light of the day is usually right before sunset, and weather is always a challenge.

As a tribute to the customers who have become almost like extended family, Bruce compiled a book of 100 of his favorite photographs, including one of his mother taken in 1981, for whom the book is dedicated. Selecting which photos to use was no easy task as the Hirsches estimate he went through well over 3,000 photographs to make the selections.

The photos have a timeless quality to them. Bruce said he achieves this in the manner of dress he suggests for the photos, that family connection and the look he tries to achieve with posing and setting. He also studies a lot of painters, as varied as Monet, John Singer Sargent and Thomas Kinkade. In fact, he built an ivy-covered cottage in his backyard to mimic the feel of the late Kinkade’s style.

A family portrait is different than a photograph, Bruce said. It is meant to be framed and hung on a wall. It is something that the family will pass by everyday and remember that moment in time.

Linda and Bruce have two portraits of their children on the wall of their dining room. It helps them remember what connection their children had at that moment in time. Portraits become family heirlooms, the Hirsches said.

Technology has helped speed up the process and get proofs back to his clients quickly, often by the next day. He likes to show the proofs on a full-size screen inside the studio so they’re easier to see. The big screen also makes choosing the right proof much easier, he said.

While some photographers worry about advances in digital photography that allow amateurs to capture quality images, Hirsch said he is not concerned. There is much more to creating that heirloom portrait than just taking a good photo, including technical knowledge, professional abilities and knowing the little nuances that change a photo from a snapshot to art.

“Without these touches, there’s not a lot of feeling,” he said.

To celebrate the studio’s milestone, Hirsch is offering a $30 sitting fee. Customers featured in his book also will receive a complimentary copy, he said.

“What I have enjoyed most are the clients and families I met along the way,” Hirsch wrote in the March 2012 newsletter sent to his clients. “I have truly enjoyed watching those families grow, starting out by photographing their wedding, then baby pictures for them and then their children’s high school senior portraits. To me it is truly the photography circle of life.”

[Southsider2k12]

Congrats the the Hirsch family. They are a wonderful group of people, and hopefully they have decades more of success in their business.