Best seats in the house at Otterbein Baseball
Relatively ordinary day with a late afternoon bike ride through and near Uptown with a side trip through the Otterbein campus where students, professors, and family gathered to watch the season opener for the baseball team.
Thought the best way together it all in was a multiple frame semi-panorama showing their raised seating on the earthen berm separating the campus from a nearby neighborhood.
Best seats in the house at Otterbein Baseball
Relatively ordinary day with a late afternoon bike ride through and near Uptown with a side trip through the Otterbein campus where students, professors, and family gathered to watch the season opener for the baseball team.
Thought the best way together it all in was a multiple frame semi-panorama showing their raised seating on the earthen berm separating the campus from a nearby neighborhood.
Families bury six children killed in house fire. Photo copyright The AP
Earlier today one of my Facebook friends pointed me towards a New York Times story with a remarkable photo of a lone person walking through dust and debris in a canyon of buildings destroyed by the war in Syria.
I always enjoy our online conversations because each of us have strong opinions, don’t always agree, respect each other, and love photography.
Today we agreed that it’s very difficult for a photographer to express pride or contentment having to shoot photos like the one he pointed me to. It’s not an enjoyable task, shooting disasters and deaths.
I spent almost all of my photojournalism career shooting moments that weren’t necessarily very enjoyable. There’s plane crashes and auto wrecks. Funerals for police, firefighters, children, military, the famous and infamous.
The photo at right is one of those moments where journalism overcame emotion and fear in an attempt to communicate to newspaper readers the gravity of burying six children at the same time.
There were only three frames of film from this viewpoint. I’d left my other cameras with telephoto lenses in the car and walked up to the crowd of mourners carrying one camera with a wide-angle lens. I stood quietly at the edge of the crowd gathered tightly against the edge of the tent covering the families and the caskets. I stayed quiet, my camera concealed under my winter coat, until I could see through the space between the heads of several mourners that emotion had reached its zenith.
As the parents hugged and the pastors said the final prayers I reached over the crowd positioned my camera in where I hoped it would be a good angle and fired three frames. No motor drive. This was film days and cameras still had a thumb drive for moments just like this.
As soon as I shot the three frames I returned to my car and left.
I knew I had photos to help tell the anguish of a funeral for six children. Also, I didn’t want to explain my actions to anyone who was offended.
My actions were cold and calculated. I anticipated one of the reactions would be anger at me. Still, the story needed to be told. I am a photographer. I did what was needed to tell the story.
No one chased after me. No one complained. There were no nasty letters from readers.
I did receive congratulations for succeeding with a good photo in such a tough situation.
I thought of this photo when I had my Facebook conversation this morning. Especially after what had happened the night before.
Young couple pose for iPhone portrait – My Final Photo
One of my granddaughters visited last night wanting me to give her a bunch of black and white prints from my archive so she could decorate the walls of her room. Among her choices, in addition to the dogs, cats, and skunk photos, were photos of Jerry Rubin, Jane Fonda, Stokely Carmichael, a couple of presidents before Clinton, andassorted spot news photos. Sandwiched in the collection now covering her walls are old news photos showing disasters, insurrection, injury, and recovery.
All are now decoration for a teenager’s room. They are not even the poignant records of events forgotten in time except for the participants, and the photographers who were the observers.
They are decoration, wallpaper in black and white blurred to the grays of history.
At right is My Final Photo for Monday, April 8, 2013.
Fathers watching sons play lacrosse
It was a great Sunday afternoon with temperatures moving to the 70s, a bike in good condition, legs that were bared after a winter in jeans, and a smaller than normal complement of cameras. Great day for a bike ride.
I was surprised how few people were out in the parks with the exception of Huber Village Park and Hoff Park.
Of course it’s crowded when there’s a youth league lacrosse game at Huber and a series of teen basketball games on the courts of Hoff.
I’ve shot both places many times and am always challenged to find a creative image that is different than others from the same location. Such was the challenge today.
Games at Hoff Woods Park
Instead of shooting the action of each space, I decided to shoot the environment, to show the warmest day of the year and people enjoying themselves in it.
The low angle of men watching their sons play lacrosse was shot a ground level using the pull-out LCD screen on the D5000 to give me a clear background and allow for the colorful contrast of colors against the blue sky.
The second photo of kids bikes at Hoff Woods is a very small homage to William Eggleston’s famous tricycle photo.
iPhone portrait
And, as I usually try to do, an iPhone photo for the day.
First day at the sailboat races on Hoover Reservoir
One of the surest signs of spring is opening day for the Hoover Sailing Club’s Spring Regatta. That day was today.
Despite slow winds, cool temperatures, and the sun peaking in and out of frosty clouds, sailors in dry suits ran through the tri-corner course with ease and eagerness.
Under the watchful, and sometimes critical eyes of other racers, family, and friends, the first day of two days of racing marked the beginning of a summer of fun on Hoover for sailors, boaters, anglers, paddlers, the rowing club, and sightseers.
Girl with big glasses
As always, there are a few iPhone photos for the day. Several with my new addiction , the Hipstamatic Tintype Film.
Also wanted to give thanks today to Andy Royston for the very kind things he had to say on Facebook about my work. I’m familiar with his work, the FtLauderdaleSun on Facebook, where he discusses his iPhone work. I’m envious of Royston because he gets to go to the beach everyday.
Many years ago I worked at the Ft. Lauderdale News where any day I didn’t have a starting time assignment I’d drive to A1A and take a trip along the beach with the windows down and the radio off so I could see, smell, and hear the ocean.
Those were great times and I still have some of the sand in my shoes. As do my old compatriots on Facebook, Nicholas Von Staden, Paul Willis, Mary Lou Foy, Bob East III and Henry Fichner.
If you’re interested, here’s a photo of Nick, Paul, and me in about 1975.
Sailing away from the dock
Sailor, restful after a day of sailing