Scene on the Road

July 6, 2008: Independence Visitor Center

July 7, 2008: Blue for "BINdependence Day"

July 8, 2008: South Camden, New Jersey

This week marks my twenty-five anniversary working here at the Inquirer. The front page photo on that Monday's Inquirer, my first day on the job, July 5, 1983 was from a 4th of July Beach Boys concert on the beach in Atlantic City. Philadelphia's festivities consisted of an afternoon parade and not much more. Over the years since, as the celebrations here have grown, I have worked a majority of the Fourths, shooting medal ceremonies, summer Mummers, concerts and fireworks.

This year though, with the weekend off, I was shooting just for myself and my friends - and blog readers. Not having to shoot on on deadline for the newspaper, I was able to look away from the fireworks and focus on the crowd filling Penn's landing all the way to the edge of the Delaware River, the last legs of the annual Haddonfield parade, and tourists in Independence National Park (that's them in the print version of Scene Through the Lens in today's newspaper). They each ended up as Daily Photos on Friday, Saturday & Sunday respectively.

The Fourth of July weekend makes it easy for me to remember the date. We moved into our apartment at 29th & Poplar on July 1st, then immediately headed to the Lehigh Valley to be with my wife's family for the holiday. Driving back late Sunday afternoon down East River (now Kelly) Drive there were so many grills fired up that the Schuylkill River bank looked like a scene right out of my fifth grade world geography textbook. I didn't stop to shoot it, my version of Tierra del Fuego - The Land of Fire, on the southern tip of South America supposedly named by Magellan when he saw all the camp fires there.

That's one the reasons I started shooting the Daily Photo. I wanted some motivation to get myself to actually take pictures of all the things I see every day - not just those I think my newspaper might use. It's been fun, and I think It really helps my "day job" as well, keeping my eyes and mind open to more than what will satisfy an assignment. So does changing geography - road trips!! - or going outside regular hours.

Walking out of the Inquirer building on my first day of my new night shift, I looked up at the Drexel University College of Medicine dorms. For years I have noticed the blue light of televisions and computer screens glowing from the windows of hotels, apartments and condos. This night I saw a whole bank of adjacent windows emitting blue. I just had to make a picture. I didn't want to be a peeping Tom, so I figured I'd shoot it from a more oblique angle, from the top of our parking garage in the next block. I shot a few frames bracing my camera on the ledge. It was only when I looking up at the dorms as I was driving out of the lot that I realized - when I saw the blue glow move to different windows!! that I was looking at the reflection of my own Inquirer-Daily News Building - bathed in blue light.

Being creative, thinking outside the box, using both sides of your brain, feeing instead of seeing pictures. All nice mantras, but they don't work at all when can't even tell what you're looking at.

I looked up at the rest of the Center City skyline and I remembered the email I got from the Mayor's office - The City of Philadelphia Recycling Office has declared July 7, 2008 “BINdependence Day” So finally making my blue television glow photo would have to wait for another day. I saw the Ben Franklin Bridge was among the structures lighted blue, so I decided to try to make that my Daily Photo.

Speaking of not seeing things, also in today's newspaper is story about Van Frederick and his black lab co-pilot Bobaji. Reporter Sam Wood asked me about him when a reader called his editor about the guy with the baseball sidecar and dog hanging out in the Starbucks in downtown Haddonfield almost every day. I drive past it often, and I've never noticed him. So I was skeptical. Was he sure she said Haddonfield? Well, it was. But we met him in at another of his regular stops - Cafe Ole in Old City - last week when we did the story (Click on the newspaper image for a slide show with more photos). But now that I'm working on a night shift, and driving into Philadelphia through Haddonfield during the afternoon I did indeed, for the first time, see his motorcycle and sidecar parked outside the Starbucks. A lesson I keep on learning: Just because you don't see it, doesn't mean it isn't there.

Keep on looking. I know I will.

July 9, 2008: Rebuilding Camden Schools

July 10, 2008: Upper Darby

July 11, 2008: National Governors Association Meeting