by Gary Gardiner | May 7, 2013
Oldest worker and only beard on the asphalt crew – My Final Photo for May 7, 2013
He wasn’t the first man I saw working on the asphalt crew. But he was the one with the beard. The others were younger. Some so young they could have been his kids or perhaps a grandchild although that’s a stretch.
I knew right away I wanted a portrait of this man whose face and frame bore the burden of time and hard work at the end of the day.
At first, I received the normal glances and brief stares as everyone in the work crew wondered who is that man and why is he here with cameras? The best protocol is to stand offsite across the street for a few minutes. This gives the crew time to think about your presence and begin to think about how you might be received if approached.
It also gives me time to figure out who’s supervising, who is the newest member of the crew, what is their work flow, and who among them might make the best subject.
When I’ve discerned most of the series of studies the photo work begins.
I saved the portrait until the last moment after the heavy rain shower and until the crew finished most of the heavy work breaking away the old pavement and began to make repairs.
Earlier my subject briefly used the pick to begin the task of breaking up worn and cracked asphalt before turning it over to the youngest member of the group so I knew I had what the photo prop would be.
He retrieved it for me then stood in two different places as I found the best background with the walls of the Tai Chi house being the best. He is also facing the open parking lot where light from the overcast skies was brightest. Facing any other direction cast too dark a shadow on his eyes.
Shot for about three minutes standing on my tiptoes to get the best angle against the brick wall. I did use thePhotoshop Healing Brush to remove a sign from the background. This isn’t photojournalism and I’m fine with making a portrait look better using a myriad of tools. If I’d been on assignment for a publication it is unlikely I would have singled out a worker for a portrait unless it was part of the assignment. If it had been part of the assignment, the crew would have known and I would have brought a small lighting kit.
Like it so much I made it My Final Photo for the day. It was a tough choice between the asphalt crew worker and the two kids in the rain walking down the sidewalk in Uptown Westerville.
by Gary Gardiner | May 6, 2013
A friendly portrait is My Final Photo for May 7, 2013
Manual focus required
There is little to say about these two youngsters except they are the best of friends, almost inseparable in their affection for each other.
They are children of families where I tangential knowledge of the parents through people I work with and were at an event in the early evening that I attended.
The mother of the girls wanted a photo of them together and seemed slightly pained that I told her to wait until after the event so I could get them outside for what I knew would be much better than the two of them in a meeting room at the library.
The only camera I had with me was the D5000 with the 18-55mm kit lens and a 50mm f1.8 lens that isn’t designed to autofocus with the D5000. That meant I would have to manual focus at f1.8 to get the photo I wanted and the photo her mother didn’t expect.
A friendly iPhone portrait of two girls
It is possible to manual focus with the D5000 even with the narrow depth of filed of an f1.8 lens. In the lower left corner is a circular indicator that flashes as you approach optimum focus and glows steady when you are in focus. It works best when you are set to single focus point, especially when your subject is a portrait and you want to focus on the eyes.
All Nikon cameras have this indicator so you can manually focus any lens. It is indispensable when you are shooting with a lens that requires the camera to have a focus drive motor. The 50mm f1.8 and 85mm f1.8 that I carry do not have the autofocus capability on the D5000 or D3100 I use. They do work on the D300 because it has the focus motor built into the camera.
These two lenses are very popular as a second lens purchase. However, make sure they work in autofocus on your camera or get ready to watch the flashing circle.
by Gary Gardiner | May 2, 2013
Earlene Wandrey during a break in her book signing – My Final Photo for May 2, 2013
One of the greatest aspects about a photographer is being able to attend private events and be a witness to other peoples lives.
Today was one of those days.
Earlene Wandrey returned to Westerville for a series of books signings for her biography “Walk in My Shoes.” She greeted old friends and family at the first signing at Old Bag of Nails meeting room.
It’s difficult to fully explain the emotional reception she received from friends she hadn’t seen since moving to North Carolina several years ago. The room filled with laughter and tears as Earlene thanked everyone for their friendship through the years and urged them all to continue to celebrate their lives as it might be the last time she’s able to come back to Westerville.
Earlene is a two-time cancer survivor.
I took Earlene aside several times for quick portraits of her to distribute to her friends. One made my Final Photo for the day.
by Gary Gardiner | May 2, 2013
Earlene Wandrey during a break in her book signing – My Final Photo for May 2, 2013
One of the greatest aspects about a photographer is being able to attend private events and be a witness to other peoples lives.
Today was one of those days.
Earlene Wandrey returned to Westerville for a series of books signings for her biography “Walk in My Shoes.” She greeted old friends and family at the first signing at Old Bag of Nails meeting room.
It’s difficult to fully explain the emotional reception she received from friends she hadn’t seen since moving to North Carolina several years ago. The room filled with laughter and tears as Earlene thanked everyone for their friendship through the years and urged them all to continue to celebrate their lives as it might be the last time she’s able to come back to Westerville.
Earlene is a two-time cancer survivor.
I took Earlene aside several times for quick portraits of her to distribute to her friends. One made my Final Photo for the day.
by Gary Gardiner | Apr 8, 2013
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.
