playing with foto booth
this week was a short one, work-day wise, but it felt more like a 7-day work week than 4! and the fact that i accomplished nothing in what turned out to be a 4-day weekend last week doesn't help matters, but that's really just my problem.
anyway, the week starts with shooting something at the historical museum, which is far too lame to post, and then i picked up one of the prep feature assignments we had going - this kid had about 10 minutes between getting out of school and getting on the bus to head out for a cross country race - story is he broke both his feet last year, but is now back - Bryan was gonna shoot this one, but as more assignments came in thru the day, it only made sense for me to pick this one up - so i asked him what he'd decided to do with the kid, and he jokingly says he was planning to shoot him like i'd shot a girl a few years back, so i just went with it, but it's pretty appropriate given this kid's story, so it works, although it's a do-over essentially
the next day, i had another not-so-memorable assignment, but then i went feature hunting -saw kids hanging on their porch playing music, so voila, something for this week's community foto page
things are still a work-in-progress as far as getting into any kind of groove with the new schedule - saturdays just pretty much suck - and i'm feeling particularly down on everything right now - especially after being really disappointed with how things turned out yesterday - had 3 assignments - first in the morning was a Baby Walk - SIDS awareness fundraiser and family day to follow after their short walk - so, the pictures, well, not so great, and once they got back there was face painting, a duck pond and the ever present inflatable bouncies - i seriously think i might just go insane - i almost want it to get cold so they can't keep those things inflated - oh, but wait, then they just bring them inside...is there NO ESCAPE???????!! apparently not, and hence the slow, bouncy road to insanity begins.....
that being said, ironically the only foto i made at that assn. that i remotely like is a mom and her toddler resting in the shade inside a bouncie - maybe it's just all in how i look at it - maybe i can learn to love the inflatables, embrace my inner bouncie (maybe i'm farther down that road than i thought!)
after that i headed down to south county for a downtown celebration day - essentially it's a giant flea market in a park and outside businesses throughout the downtown area - complete, of course, with children's activities (guess what that's code for - c'mon, just guess - now, repeat after me - "i will not thrust a sharp stick into the bouncie, i will not thrust a sharp stick into the bouncie"- ooh, all this complaining is kind of fun - it's like therapy!), community raffles, a car wash, etc....really not excited about shooting this, and it's the cover story for the weekly tab, so i have to get a few decent pix out of it - it ended up being not so completely horrible - liked these 3 sisters all lined up, suckers in hand, as they waited for a free pumpkin train ride....
then i took a short break, went into work, got my stuff in for the daily, then headed out into the country where a family was holding a picnic for foreign exchange students and their host families - there was gonna be games, a bonfire and hayrides.....so i get there, and for the first hour, all the foreign kids are herded off to a patio where they are getting an info packet and welcome talk by the woman running the program (who used to work here til a round of lay-offs last winter), then after that, the kids kind of just stand around and talk - the only ones playing the games or doing anything were the host family kids, so, whatever - i'll try to get some kind of picture or moment as they hang out - that's not going so well, but it's okay, cos what i've really been looking forward to (really, all day) is that i should be able to make some cool pix when we go on the hayride....and the clock is ticking, and people are eating, and eating and eating, and the kids are standing or sitting in circles and talking, and i look at the time, and i look to the west, and i get to wondering, when exactly ARE we going on the hayride? and i wait, and i wait, so now it's about 10 til 8, and i have to go get my hoody out of the car, because it's getting chilly, and i'm thinking maybe i should just go - i have to get back to the desk soon, and it's seriously losing any hope of light....we'd have to be firing up that hay wagon like right now for me to have any chance left - cos going on a hayride in the dark with bad flash is just completely pointless....and just then i see the host guy walk over and fire up the tractor - thank god! so, they spread out the hay, and now it's a little after 8, and the light is pretty much had, but if i crank up the iso, i may still be able to get some sense of light out there on the horizon.....so, everyone gathers round the wagons, and the guy gets up on top, and he thanx everyone again for coming, yadda yadda yadda, and then he says, now before we go on the hayride, we're going to play a few rounds of twister til we get down to the international twister champ, and since we've got about 40 or 50 kids playing, this might have to go in segments! WHAT?????? are you freaking kidding me?!!!! so, yeah, that's it, turn camera off, walk back to car - it's dark, i'm out of time anyway, and i am just so completely disappointed i seriously almost start to cry on the way back into the office - all i've got after 3+ hours at this asn. is complete crap, and not only am i let down that something i'd really been looking forward to shooting just totally fell apart, but i know that it's dominant page 1 for monday, and really, it just sux!
....so that was my day....
inbetween assignments that morning, i dropped off a roll of film at the drugstore - i'd taken some pictures of this praying mantis that spent the better part of monday hanging onto my screen door...looking at it more closely, i noticed how one of its wings was permanently stuck jutting out to the side , and later saw that a front leg on that side was messed up, too, so i googled injured praying mantis, and up pops a site devoted to caring for them...so, trying to be good steward of the earth, i thought i should protect it while it healed - so i got out an old fishbowl, and then i covered it with newspaper after getting her (and i now know it was a her, because she had 6 legs, as opposed to 8 which the males have - the internet is just so darned educational!) into the bowl, and i went down to the basement, where i knew i had some cheesecloth to secure over top - i came back up after a couple minutes, and hey, fishbowl is empty, and then i hear it - an awful crunching sound, and i see the cat that frequents my porch, and the poor praying mantis is on the wall, and cat's batting at her inbetween crunches - so i bat the cat out of the way and manage to get the bug back into the bowl - cat has now performed amputation on aforementioned injured front leg - and me, i'm just pretty horrified at this point - here i thought i was taking care of this insect, and i only led it almost to near death and definitely to maiming! what's that phrase about no good deed?
i told this story later to a copy editor as i was looking at the pix, and before i left he told me to watch out for injured insects, to which i could only reply that, apparently, they needed to watch out for me!
to quote our last intern, sad day!
and as it turns out, there was stuff on that roll of film that i'd totally forgotten i'd shot - like pix from the county fair kick-off parade - they look like pictures from the past or something! still lovin that lensBABY! (just to end on a lighter note)
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