Great Grandmother's 95th Birthday Party

These photos were taken at my girlfriend's great grandmother's 95th birthday party. I hadn't intended to be shooting photos that day, so I didn't have my camera with me. Thus, all these photos were taken with my Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone, inside of a waterproof case, so shooting through the plastic over the lens. And then editing was done on the JPEGs that came out of the phone. But, as the saying goes, the best camera is the one you have with you. Here are 6 of my favorite images that came from that day.

My absolute favorite photo is this, 4 generations of the matrilineal line: my girlfriend, her mother, her grandmother & her great grandmother. I printed 4 copies of this photo, framed them and gave them each one as a Christmas gift this year. That way, whenever one of them is looking at the photo, there is a good chance someone else in the photo is looking at it as well.

It's better that these memories were captured than not. These are exquisite family moments that can't be duplicated so whether you had your phone or your regular camera doesn't matter. As you said, the best camera is the one you have with you at the time. I am positive that everyone appreciated your efforts.

Wow Grammy looks good for 95. Very good with a mobile device!
Thanks for sharing

There is a beautiful lineage going on with the ladies of this family!

And you did a real nice job in the compositions, resulting in well above average images. The first one and the entire family shots are my favorites, but many others are just as well executed!

Thanks for the kind words everyone. I had a long chat with Muddy, what we call great gran, at Christmas. I tried to get it in her head that if she can hold on till her centennial birthday, I can hopefully retake the matrilineal photograph with a 5th generation of women in it. As you mentioned, she's in great shape for 95, she's even got a boyfriend like 30-40 years her junior... that cradle robber! Up until a year or two ago she was still working in a library, and she cooks 3 full meals for herself every day. That's how you stay sharp and healthy for all those years. Keep up a routine, keep contributing to society and it'll give back to you a sharp mind and healthy body.

I also have it in my head that I could possibly take a photo of myself holding my (potential future) daughter while sitting in a chair, then do a little PS painting magic and put us in that black chair in the photo. Though of course it would be far better to get a shot naturally with all 5 of them together.

I don't have any grand parents still living, let alone the fact that I never even met my great grandparents, even as an infant. So 4 generations all together at once is something rare, something very special in my eyes. At Christmas and Thanksgiving I saw a bunch of these photos printed out and on a few refrigerators. Which is the real test of a family photojournalist, those are the galleries I was aiming for with these shots. Though I still took my time to get the most out of the source images I had.

Thanks again for the comments.

Really lovely familiy shots. Very well done.

Thank you. Some of the photos, both here and in the full set, could have benefited from the dehaze functionality in the latest PS. But alas that was not included in PS CS3. I am trying to decide which Creative Cloud plan to purchase, so I'll be able to work with the latest & greatest tools soon.

It's a cruel twist of fate that the inferior cameras give you files that are the worst for doing post processing. My girlfriend and I have a big multi-year photography project that is currently in planning the stages. So I am looking to upgrade our P&S that I got back in 2004 to something that is ultra-compact, yet is still capable of shooting RAW. Trying to stay in the $300 range, but I've just begun my research. With a new FF body, an IPS monitor and a couple lens purchases coming up, I don't have much budget left for a P&S.