by Gary Gardiner | May 24, 2013
The sun dances across College Avenue for My Final Photo May 24, 2013
I’m always chasing the light looking for its variety of ways to illuminate my day and help me shoot better photos. Rarely does the sun itself become the subject of my work. It’s never gleefully danced down the sidewalk and across the street in front of me. Until today at Fourth Friday in Uptown.
Sun displays itself to a group of teens
Fourth Fridays are always a challenge for me. I shoot every one of them starting and ending at the same times, on the same streets, with the same vendors, and many times the same crowds.
It can be especially frantic if I’ve given myself an assignment for the night or need a specific photo to continue or complete a project. I always come away with a photo that I’m proud enough to display or offer as a stock image.
That happened today when the sun danced into my viewfinder. And, I love the yellow Chucks.
Deciding which of the two photos displayed here was difficult so I went with the one that let me write about a photographer chasing the sun. That doesn’t mean I didn’t like the photo at right where the sun’s expositional posing appears to shock a foursome of teenagers hanging out at Fourth Friday.
by Gary Gardiner | May 24, 2013
The sun dances across College Avenue for My Final Photo May 24, 2013
I’m always chasing the light looking for its variety of ways to illuminate my day and help me shoot better photos. Rarely does the sun itself become the subject of my work. It’s never gleefully danced down the sidewalk and across the street in front of me. Until today at Fourth Friday in Uptown.
Sun displays itself to a group of teens
Fourth Fridays are always a challenge for me. I shoot every one of them starting and ending at the same times, on the same streets, with the same vendors, and many times the same crowds.
It can be especially frantic if I’ve given myself an assignment for the night or need a specific photo to continue or complete a project. I always come away with a photo that I’m proud enough to display or offer as a stock image.
That happened today when the sun danced into my viewfinder. And, I love the yellow Chucks.
Deciding which of the two photos displayed here was difficult so I went with the one that let me write about a photographer chasing the sun. That doesn’t mean I didn’t like the photo at right where the sun’s expositional posing appears to shock a foursome of teenagers hanging out at Fourth Friday.
by Gary Gardiner | Apr 19, 2013
I’ve got a beat. It’s Westerville.
In the days when newspaper news rooms were filled with reporters, most were assigned specific beats. Today, with smaller staffs, reporters often are assigned to several beats making it more difficult, in my opinion, to create a news report with depth and representing the daily lives of a newspaper’s readers.
I see that in not only the daily newspaper with much smaller news holes and the weekly that appears to be filled by formula rather than reporting. Don’t misunderstand. The quality of what is being reporting is great. Almost all of the news reporters I know are great reporters. It’s a shame they don’t have more space in which to show their work and more staff to allow them to isolate on important stories instead of covering areas outside their expertise.
Several times a week I visit merchants in Uptown Westerville just to keep myself apprised of the latest happenings with their businesses, to see what is different about their stores, and to learn about what might be happening in the near future.
One of my regular stops in Old Skool skate shop where I am always warmly greeted. Often there is an opportunity for a good photo of young skateboarders and their families. Sometimes it’s just me and Wally worrying about politics and the weather. One discussion this week centered on the mud tracked through Westerville’s skate park by bike riders who left trailed of hardened muck on every smooth surface at the park.
Wally isn’t usually in the shop of Fridays, but I still visit. Today it was very slow so I took the time to shoot some of the well worn wheels and gritty bearings removed from repaired and replaced boards. My skateboard still-lifes. Shot with my iPhone
by Gary Gardiner | Apr 12, 2013
Dairy barn on farm land at Cooper Road and Cleveland Ave.
I’m continuing to visit the farm land along Cooper Road where it passes along Alum Creek and ends at Cleveland Avenue. After a few more changes in the plans presented to the city council most of this land will become a business and apartment complex with a senior care facility at it’s center.
There will be a park along the edge of the creek and green space scattered throughout the complex but the large swaths of hay and crop fields will disappear under concrete, steel and asphalt. When completed almost 25% of the working farm land in Westerville will be gone.
I have not seen the complete plans but have been told they do not include the old barn. I hope I’m wrong. When farm land along Old Westerville Road in Genoa Township was converted to houses the developers kept two barns that today stand as markers of the original use of the land. One is used as a small community center for movies and meetings in the warmer months.
Let’s hope I’m wrong and there is a plan to save the barn.
A Tumblr site with photos of the Cooper Road Farm
by Gary Gardiner | Apr 12, 2013
Dairy barn on farm land at Cooper Road and Cleveland Ave.
I’m continuing to visit the farm land along Cooper Road where it passes along Alum Creek and ends at Cleveland Avenue. After a few more changes in the plans presented to the city council most of this land will become a business and apartment complex with a senior care facility at it’s center.
There will be a park along the edge of the creek and green space scattered throughout the complex but the large swaths of hay and crop fields will disappear under concrete, steel and asphalt. When completed almost 25% of the working farm land in Westerville will be gone.
I have not seen the complete plans but have been told they do not include the old barn. I hope I’m wrong. When farm land along Old Westerville Road in Genoa Township was converted to houses the developers kept two barns that today stand as markers of the original use of the land. One is used as a small community center for movies and meetings in the warmer months.
Let’s hope I’m wrong and there is a plan to save the barn.
A Tumblr site with photos of the Cooper Road Farm
