Talk about Being John Malkovich, THIS...if you ever wondered, is what City Hall's William Penn looks like from the inside. That ladder would be the normal route up to the top of the statue, up the 37 feet up inside the hollow bronze sculpture. My route though, taken a couple times over the past few weeks, was on the stairs inside the scaffolding on the OUTSIDE of the statue. I just popped down inside through the small door at top of his hat just because I'd always wondered.
When I first read that the cleaning would begin in the fall, I called Rich Frabizio, Jr. at Eastern Scaffolding & Shoring to ask if they would be installing the scaffolding. I had photographed his dad, Rich Sr. eleven years ago, the last time Billy Penn was washed and waxed. Then I kept checking in and looking up at the statue every day myself, planning on being there on the day the guys installed the level closest to Penn's face.
Up on top, I tried a couple "Hail Mary" shots, holding my camera with wide angle lens at arm's length above my head, but wasn't happy with the results. I wanted the reader to get a sense of how high we were, and I also wanted some scale in the photos, so I needed recognizable buildings in the background. It was difficult to get the foreground and background lined up just right, and keep the pipes from blocking anything important.
By the time they were installing the pipes near Penn's face, I was more comfortable with the height and was able to climb up on the scaffolding uprights so I could look down on the workers - and more importantly - actually look and compose through the viewfinder instead of just guessing. Click here for a slide show of photos from the scaffolding.
My second walk up the scaffolding was when conservationists Constance Bassett and David Cann from Moorland Studios of Stockton, NJ were there two weeks later, working on the once-every-decade preservation. A slide show of those photos is here.
A photo editor discouraged me from the second shoot, figuring the newspaper wouldn't want "another Billy Penn face" so soon. But I still wanted to do it, and his advice inspired me to try for a different photo. I purposely waited until the workers, starting at Penn's hat, had already moved down past his face, just to keep me from shooting it again. However, I couldn't help myself and I did shoot one photo that included his face (the one on the left, above). 
And wouldn't you know it, THAT was the picture the editors put on the front page of the newspaper. My favorite picture was the crew eating their lunch - sushi and octopus. That ran in the "Photo of the Day" space (on the Express page).
Those weren't my only recent experiences with big heads though. I also shot the dedication and unveiling of a huge bust of Benjamin Franklin, by West Philadelphia sculptor James Peniston. I first head about it a few years ago when historian and archivist Carol Smith, with the Friends of Franklin and the Fireman's Hall Museum told me about a competition to replace the much-loved "Penny Benny" sculpture that stood next to the Engine 8 firehouse at 4th & Arch Streets.
I wasn't here when the original statue, also by a local artist, Reginald E. Beauchamp, was created in 1971 with some 80,000 one-cent pieces donated by Philadelphia schoolchildren. But I did shoot it before it was removed ten years ago as it started to rot and began to lean precariously over the sidewalk (the firefighters next door had rigged up some ropes to keep it from falling on anyone).
I was covering the Phillies' (remember them?) rally at City Hall on the day Peniston's sculpture was installed and missed that, so I wanted to be there when it was unveiled. That's where the third Big Head comes in - my own. As I arrived at the dedications, I was feeling pretty confident about my ability to make some sort of photo that wasn't simply the moment of the unveiling.
I had such a Big Head that I didn't even watch the ceremonies on the stage. I wandered around behind, looked at the hoagies spread out in the firehouse courtyard, and even chatted about ice cream with the guy from the Franklin Fountain - they were handing out samples of "Franklin Mint" - as I waited (over)confidently for the great photo I was sure I'd soon discover. The problem was, I didn't notice it until it was too late.
As everything was winding down, the family of the artist moved back up on stage to take a group photo. When I walked back to the front to take a look, I saw the makings of a great photo: the nine-foot Ben Franklin head right behind the podium, looking - at least through a telephoto lens - like he was speaking right into the microphone. That was funny enough, but I could just imagine the same scene with a stage full of dignitaries all seated politely, hanging on his every word!
I watched as they took their group photo, but it just wasn't the same. And just as I was hoping something else might happen to add to the scene, a worker from the city removed the mayor's seal (I missed that too!). Minutes later, any potential for a great photo completely disappeared when the worker took the entire podium away.
Next time I'll keep my head more in the game.
