By Linda M. Bendorf
Citizen contributor

John Keats said, “A thing of beauty is a joy forever.” Portrait photographer Elizabeth Horn delivers the gift of joy. She wears her camera like a second skin to capture the spirit of childhood. Simple. Pure. Unrehearsed. “I am grateful to my clients for allowing me to capture candid, personal moments in their child’s life. I receive great joy and satisfaction shooting them from year to year, watching their personalities unfold...”

Elizabeth and husband Roger Horn established Elizabeth Horn Photography in 2003. If you believe in six degrees of separation, also known as the Human Web, you might see Robert Redford’s connection as catalyst for the start-up. In the fall of 2002, the Horns celebrated their one-year anniversary at Redford’s Sundance Resort. Roger, an experienced landscape photographer, says, “The landscape is gorgeous. Snow capped mountains and beautiful fall foliage. You can’t take a bad photo there.”

Once home, Roger shared Beth’s Sundance photos with friends on the Metra. “My friend said, ‘Do you think she would shoot photos of my kids?’”

"This was my first assignment," says Beth. “I had the artistic side. More than anyone, Roger taught me the technical part, and he’s an incredible teacher.”
“She was a natural to me,” says Roger. “She loved to shoot, which is the key to getting better and she was great at capturing and composition. You can’t teach some of this.”

“We Met at the Strawberry Shortcake Table”

This strong business team works well together. Elizabeth handles photography, marketing and sales. Elizabeth says, “Getting word out is always a challenge. Since most clients want me to shoot on location, I don’t have a company studio or dedicated space with signage and foot traffic.”

Roger, a full-time IT Architect with Allstate Insurance, serves as business and photography consultant. He says, “I see good lighting opportunities. Elizabeth has an incredible eye for framing a photo. She’s quick at making decisions and changing things up during the shoot. Clients like her confidence and decisiveness.”

Based on testimonials, her clients also love the end result, which she achieves by integrating artistry, technology and technique. She says, “I currently use a Nikon D700. The quality and reliability of Nikon is exceptional. With this camera, I know I am taking the best pictures possible. Technology will continue to made advances in this field, but the photographer is still the artist behind the lens. Expressions can be so fleeting. Technique and artistry can transcend time to capture authenticity, and something unique and essential. You’re stopping time for a minute.”

Roger and Elizabeth met at an event reception when both chose the table set with strawberry shortcake for dessert. Elizabeth says, “Our paths would not have crossed if we weren’t at this one event – this one table -- in the city. At the time, I lived in Gurnee, and Roger lived in Arlington Heights. He was on assignment, shooting the keynote speaker, Father Pfleger, in early 2000. A year and a half later, we married. We had a small wedding at Gray’s Mill, an old flour mill overlooking the Fox River near Aurora, Illinois,” says Elizabeth.

Roger says, “It was a beautiful, natural setting, and the best shot is when our photographer stood everyone out on the veranda. He went back inside, took the screen out of the window, stood in the frame and took this bird’s eye view of us, all looking up. It was a great shot. We picked Jeffrey Kash for his style, flair and candids.”

Captivated by Candids in Early Childhood

Elizabeth’s earliest photography-related memory involved candids. “I’ve always loved looking at candid shots, even as a small child. We had a coffee table book: John F. Kennedy: The Family Album, filled with candids of their daily life in the White House, by photographer Mark Shaw who chronicled the intimate but ordinary moments. The pictures were so inviting and alive. I loved how the black and whites made the pictures more timeless and moody.”

Then when Elizabeth was eight, she watched Arthur Ashe play tennis in Highland Park. His wife Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe was there with a camera around her neck. My dad said, ‘She’s a professional photographer. She travels everywhere.’ I filed that away,” Elizabeth says. Photos by Ansel Adams and Alfred Eisenstaedt captivated Roger who was most influenced “by Eisenstaedt’s ability capture candid images that told fascinating stories.”

To this day, Shaw’s “gutsy” candids inspire Horn. “His photos convey real people in real situations. He uses natural window light to create stunning, dramatic portraits. I’m also completely inspired by the work of Australian photographer, Barb Uil, a master of color and natural light and the whimsy of childhood (http://www.jinkyart.com.au/). And I love Angela Weedon from Dallas (http://www.weedonphoto.com/); she’s so technically accurate (lighting, exposure, focus, etc) and so artistic. For me, Annie Leibovitz goes without saying!”

On the job, Beth is inspired by families who bring energy to the shoot and interact naturally. “I can always tell it’s going to be a good shoot when I see the parents go into “play mode” with their kids right away on the beach, or a mom who shows loving tenderness between her and her newborn as if I weren’t in the room. The pictures come back real.”

Elizabeth’s Mystery Client

“One year, Karen Maynard asked me to photograph their newborn. The following year, I took family shots. Roger asked me how it went. I said, ‘Great! I think it was some sports guy. He was big! He looked like a football player.’ Roger asked his name and I told him it was Brad Maynard. ‘He said, “He punts for the Chicago Bears.’“

Roger says, “I was thinking… that was super cute. If she had known who he was, she might have been ten times more nervous.”

No matter who the client, Elizabeth takes time to establish rapport. “You can’t rush it. The best shots come between the shots, and the best shots come toward the end of the session. The child doesn’t know that you’re shooting. And that’s what you want. To capture something authentic, when they let their guard down. That’s why people like me to come to their homes, especially if child is shy. The child feels much freer.”

Community Ties That Bind
In 1965, Roger’s parents moved from Chicago to nearby Norridge, where he grew up. The same year, Elizabeth’s parents moved from the south side of Chicago to Deerfield, where she was raised. Now the Arlington Heights couple and their three-year-old daughter Cameron Rose, take advantage of the area’s rich resources. Regular outings include Chicago Botanic Gardens and Morton Arboretum, Cosley Zoo in Wheaton, Wagner Farm in Glenview and Honey Café in Glen Ellyn. “For now, Cameron is my full time job and this is what we want,” Elizabeth says.

Cameron takes music and ballet at the Metropolis Center for Performing Arts. Mother and daughter do a parent-child class at Four Winds Waldorf in Warrenville, where Elizabeth “loves the emphasis in dramatic play, nature and the arts for a young child.” Roger, a movie buff and musician, also loves outdoor active. “I love hiking and guitar. On my days off, I love to spend time with Cameron. And I accompany Beth on her weekend shoots.”

Creating a Legacy: The Blending of Passion, Generosity and Excellence

This year, Horn will expand into high school senior portraiture. She will also seek opportunities to share her work in local community art fairs. This holiday season, through Allstate’s “Adopt a Family” program, the Horns will volunteer time and talent to help capture memories for families who have children with cancer. “We’re lucky,” says Roger. “Every day we wake up and know we’re healthy and our child is healthy. If you can do a little something to make a difference for others, that’s one of the purposes in life.”
Elizabeth says, “It’s about being part of the community.”

The Horns also graciously share what they’ve discovered over the years. To amateurs, Elizabeth offers this advice: “Find your own style. Use other photographers for inspiration, and then be true to yourself even if you’re going against the grain a bit. We can draw from different styles and techniques to influence something unique within ourselves. And train your eye to correct distractions within a picture before you shoot.
Roger says, “Then shoot, shoot, shoot.”

Elizabeth says she overshoots, “then I try to find that diamond in the rough. That one essential image. For me, success in a photograph is capturing a moment that is relaxed and genuine. Expressions can be fleeting – especially with a child who naturally moves from one thing to the next in an instant. My antidote for that is anchoring myself in a central position which allows free movement on the child’s part, but great angles for me to shoot. I’ve also learned you have to be flexible and ready to move to meet the child where he is in his play. For example, during one shoot at the beach, the child was so engaged with throwing sand into the water that my usual “calling his name for a backwards glance” didn’t work. I realized the only way to get this shot was to move where his attention was focused – the water! I rolled up my pant legs and waded about six feet inward. I turned around and got the shot. I love the shot for how wonderfully candid it is.”

To see this photo and others, go to Elizabeth’s website at www.hornphotography.com. The photo of the young boy throwing sand is the fourth image in the toddler portfolio.
Roger says, “I would like to be remembered for authentic images that capture the essence of the child or subject, the true inner soul, so that thirty years from now, people looking at the photos will say, ‘Yes! That’s exactly who she was.”

“The best compliment for me,” Elizabeth says, “no matter how the sessions goes, bad weather, overly active kids, is when the clients says, ‘I trust you. I know we’ll have good pictures. You know, I’m not worried, because you always get good shots.’” Not all fans are clients. One amateur photographer in Northern California who periodically views her photos as a benchmark, tells her, “Congratulations on achieving not only fabulous technique, but capturing brilliant moments that I am sure delight your clients. I look forward to seeing more of your work.”

Elizabeth wants to be remembered as someone who has a passion for her profession, and who makes the process seamless for her client. She says, “It’s all about timing and patience. You can’t rush it. You instinctively know when you have that shot.” That thing of beauty. That joy forever.

For more information, call Elizabeth Horn Photography at 847-525-6718. See www.hornphotography.com.

Arlington Heights writer and resident, Linda M. Bendorf is Director of Blue Sage Writing. Bendorf is also a faculty member with the University of Iowa Summer Writing Festival.

Photo by Elizabeth Horn