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 26, 2013
Generations dancer before solo performance – My Final Photo for April 26, 2013
The Fourth Friday in April always begins the once a month summer celebrations in Uptown. I’m almost always there as it continually offers an old news photographer the opportunity for feature photos.
Feature photos are typically those photos that don’t need an explanation or caption. They speak for themselves not needing anything to help explain the moment. A caption is only useful only to expand on the obvious and to answer one of the WWWWWH questions.
Feature photos typically have very strong central subjects, good lighting, and are at the peak of action. A combination of these elements intensifies the impact so that the photo usually stands out on the page. It becomes the dominant element on the page around which other stories and ads are scanned or read.
Also called stand-alone photos, good feature photos do not require accompanying stories and usually are all that is necessary to communicate the moment.
Using a feature photo does not always communicate the complexity of an event just as this real-time portrait of a Generations dancer about to perform her solo doesn’t show the depth of Fourth Friday. Fourth Friday is always a lot more than a single dancer. Even the dance portion of the night is more complex than this dancer as the photo below shows.
Dancer performs on West College in Uptown Westerville
If I were on assignment to cover Fourth Friday for a publication there would be a shoot list of photos to match the editorial idea for the story. The list details the subject of the story with a suggestion of the photos required. If the story were about dancers both these photos would have been good as feature photos. If it had been about the food vendors neither would have worked. Not that the food vendors couldn’t have a standalone photo. The girl reaching for a sample of strawberry shortcake is a good feature photo for that purpose.
Youngster sampling strawberry shortcake at food vendors booth at Fourth Friday
I didn’t shoot every possible event for the night. The cool weather perhaps kept some people at home because the crowd was smaller than normal so there isn’t a crowd photo. I didn’t shoot any of the musical groups. I didn’t shoot people working in the booths.
Those will probably be in the next set of photos on the next Fourth Friday. For this one you’ll have to be satisfied with my standalone feature photos. I was.
by Gary Gardiner | Apr 26, 2013
Generations dancer before solo performance – My Final Photo for April 26, 2013
The Fourth Friday in April always begins the once a month summer celebrations in Uptown. I’m almost always there as it continually offers an old news photographer the opportunity for feature photos.
Feature photos are typically those photos that don’t need an explanation or caption. They speak for themselves not needing anything to help explain the moment. A caption is only useful only to expand on the obvious and to answer one of the WWWWWH questions.
Feature photos typically have very strong central subjects, good lighting, and are at the peak of action. A combination of these elements intensifies the impact so that the photo usually stands out on the page. It becomes the dominant element on the page around which other stories and ads are scanned or read.
Also called stand-alone photos, good feature photos do not require accompanying stories and usually are all that is necessary to communicate the moment.
Using a feature photo does not always communicate the complexity of an event just as this real-time portrait of a Generations dancer about to perform her solo doesn’t show the depth of Fourth Friday. Fourth Friday is always a lot more than a single dancer. Even the dance portion of the night is more complex than this dancer as the photo below shows.
Dancer performs on West College in Uptown Westerville
If I were on assignment to cover Fourth Friday for a publication there would be a shoot list of photos to match the editorial idea for the story. The list details the subject of the story with a suggestion of the photos required. If the story were about dancers both these photos would have been good as feature photos. If it had been about the food vendors neither would have worked. Not that the food vendors couldn’t have a standalone photo. The girl reaching for a sample of strawberry shortcake is a good feature photo for that purpose.
Youngster sampling strawberry shortcake at food vendors booth at Fourth Friday
I didn’t shoot every possible event for the night. The cool weather perhaps kept some people at home because the crowd was smaller than normal so there isn’t a crowd photo. I didn’t shoot any of the musical groups. I didn’t shoot people working in the booths.
Those will probably be in the next set of photos on the next Fourth Friday. For this one you’ll have to be satisfied with my standalone feature photos. I was.
by Gary Gardiner | Mar 27, 2013
Uptown Westerville Amish Originals Furniture sign painter
I’ve a slightly long story about an AP photo stringer assigned to shoot a standalone feature photo of windy weather on the streets of downtown Columbus.
This was quite a while ago when newspapers ran more feature photos and The AP supplied an ample stream of standalone photos for newspaper editors to use for filler on open pages or to squirrel away for the day when the paper needed to fill the news hole, usually on the same day the food advertisements ran or the Sunday paper.
Some standalones could be held because they weren’t tied directly to a news event that would be too old to use in several days. The usual fare for this type of photo were kids, animals, sunsets, weather, or just plain silly moments.
The stringer’s assignment was to find a nice feature photo of someone being affected by the strong winds bringing a storm into central Ohio. Didn’t need something spectacular although that was always the underlying and unspoken goal of any photo shoot.
“Shoot for the front page.”
After about an hour the stringer returned explaining that it was windy, but he couldn’t find a good photo. Not even a photo that might have played on an interior page. He’d failed, and was embarrassed.
To shorten the story all you need to know is I went to almost the same location from where the stringer had just left. I spent less than five minutes and returned with a photo of someone using a parking meter to prevent themselves from being blown into the street.
Now the stringer was even more embarrassed , and I didn’t let him forget that I’d sent him out on a simple photo assignment where he’d spent more than an hour and failed.
I’d spent five minutes and shot a photo that played in every major daily in the state and several out of state dailies.
I’ve always said that I’m very luck finding more than ordinary photos in ordinary events. Today was no different. My trip to Uptown Westerville was supposed to be brief. Just long enough to check on my photos at the Ohio Art Market before traveling to St. Paul Church for another photo for the 40 Days of Lent series.
It was unusual to see several unoccupied parking spots on State when I realized they were empty because a construction van had just pulled into one of the three and had cleared the orange cones from the other two. The van belonged to a sign company which would be using a bucket arm for a painter to finish the new sign over Amish Originals Furniture Company.
It was a great opportunity for a standalone feature photo depending upon how the arm would be positioned and what part of the sign was going to be touched up. Shot outside first as he painted a lower section. When he began to move the arm higher to position it so he could paint the top of the sign I knew I’d have to run to the rear of the recently redecorated store and then to the front to have enough time to move furniture so I’d have to open a window, thrust my camera out and up as far and high as my short arms would reach for a photo. There was enough room to lean out the window, but it was just low enough that I would still have to stretch in a very uncomfortable position and get no higher than my outstretched arm would reach.
Still, in about five minutes including running through the store, I got a different angle of Uptown Westerville. Using luck and that unusual ability I have to discover these simple moments.
At right is the new stained glass window in the front of the church. Will have to wait until they change the lighting behind it or carry a strobe and remote to shoot it properly lit. It is slightly distorted because it is so high on the wall and I a l;arge hanging light makes it impossible to shoot without standing almost directly underneath it.
