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 | Apr 24, 2013
There was that moment late in the afternoon when the clouds parted and I discovered College Avenue in Uptown Westerville bathed in spectacular contrasty warm light.
The photos are lacking in compositional and subject elements such as people walking on the sidewalks, bicyclists in the road, or skateboarders.
But there is always that light and the large shadow cast across College to aid in tonal composition..
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
