St. Mary's Picnic

Shooting for Bryan Moss's Web site, LifeinCorydon.com is one of the most rewarding of the freelance jobs I have. He's an old-school photojournalist who is rather bare-bones about his work, and instructs his freelancers to adopt the same principles while shooting for him. He doesn't use a flash, so neither do I. It sounds restrictive, but it just forces me to open my eyes, pay attention to available light and exercise more patience. It's improved my photography and turned me into a bit of a snob. Sometimes, I cringe a little when I notice the flash fired in a photo.

I don't really have a limit of photos to constrain me, so I don't have to worry about what I'm shooting or what's likely to run. It's wide open, and there's not a singular image required to encapsulate every event. It doesn't hurt to look for one, but I get at least 24 frames posted with every gallery. It's a form of visual storytelling and there aren't a whole lot of mediums willing to dedicate that kind of space anymore.

Last Sunday, I shot a church picnic at St. Mary's in Lanesville.

So what? People eat and play bingo. What's so great about that?

It's too easy to overlook all the little moments in between, that's what I'm after. How does the food get to the table? Who does the cooking? What are people doing to stay cool? The chicken was cooked on-site, where are the fryers?

There's a lot more to every moment than people generally pay attention to, so that's where I come in. I document the glances in between, or the little boy eying his mother's chocolate cake.

Even though I get plenty of pictures posted every time I shoot for Bryan, there are still a few frames I like that don't make the cut. Part of it's because of space and I think the rest is a taste issue, but I plan on putting a few frames up with each assignment that don't make it online or in print. I'll also give a little critique with each photo.

So, here goes, round one. Click for larger previews.

This man was the emcee for a game of bingo, but players used kernels of corn to mark their boards instead of traditional bingo ink markers. This photo probably doesn't make what he's up to very obvious, even in a multi-photo gallery, but I still like the portrait.

These men were breading the chicken before taking it over to the fryers. The excruciating heat coupled with several fryers running made the work difficult, but they kept going until everyone who was interested had eaten. I can see how this one missed the cut because of the thin, white columns on either side are a little distracting. It's still a nice moment, though.

I love the scale of this one, showing how small the boy is in comparison to the people on either side of him, and his legs off the ground. I'm not offended this one didn't make the cut, but I really like it.

It seemed those who won the cake giveaways had to get through a council to receive their prize. Absolutely no exchanges, either. I never knew free cake was such a serious undertaking.

There were a few more I liked, but I don't want these posts to get too long. Maybe limiting each entry to four that didn't make the cut is a good guideline. Let's stick with that, shall we?

Either way, that's all for now. I have a short feature to finish for one newspaper right now, and another story to report on and write by 10 p.m. tonight. I better get cracking.