Scene on the Road

Post-New Years Day, Second Street, South Philadelphia

I'm going on my second week of not posting a "Daily Photo" here. Having to come up with an image worth posting each of the 366 days last year may not sound like a big deal, but it really did consume a lot of photographic and mental energy. I'm not complaining, mind you. It honestly wasn't so tough on the days I had photos from assignments that I knew the newspaper wouldn't be interested in. But sometimes, on days off, when I was sick, or working all day in the yard...That really hit me as I wandered around the Mummers Parade last week with my son and realized that I didn't have to do anything with the photos I shot. So I had him snap me with the most non-Mummer non-New Year's Day thing we encountered - a Leprechaun.

Even so, I'm missing it already. Working the early morning news / philly.com shift this week, I waited for the sun to come up so I could photograph the scene at the Kearny school where President Bush was to visit later in the day. After shooting and sending my photos, and starting to drive back to the office, I was looking at the beautiful sunrise thinking I'd be shooting it, if I still had a Daily Photo. So what, I told myself, I can still shoot it "just because."

When I walked into the newsroom, editors were just talking about how the presidential motorcade would be closing down the bridges during rush hour. "Hey," I shouted, "you want a really pretty picture of the Ben Franklin Bridge? I just made one fifteen minutes ago."

They did. A different frame got used on the From the Source breaking news blog.

That doesn't happen often. One of the reasons I started the Daily Photo a year ago was to give me a good reason to keep picking up my camera. Throughout the year, what I tended to do was shoot pictures all day long. When on assignment, I would often see something visually intriguing and then try to compose a photo in the most interesting way I could, even if I didn't think it would work for the newspaper. Sometimes, I would even forget about my blogging "obligation" to produce a daily photo, but later in the evening at home, after dinner and any other household activities were done, I would look through the assignment "rejects," and anything else I'd shot that day and post one.

Here are a handful of those "leftovers" I found while clearing out my files from the past year. These never made it into either the newspaper or onto the blog, usually because something better came up....

(I'm not "guilty" in this first one...I was at a meter sending photos from my laptop, when the cop double parked - South Philly style - right behind me)

Ocean City, NJ

Media Courthouse

Westmont, NJ

North Philadelphia

Society Hill

Reading Terminal Market

Collingswood, NJ

JFK Boulevard above 22nd Street

One of the things I've always enjoyed about making pictures is how it's not really about what kind of camera you use or how many megapixels it has. What I like is the challenge that even after most of the technical aspects of making pictures become second nature, and even when you learn how to really "see" when you make a picture - the most important thing in photography is what's going on inside your head.

Conversely, one of the most frustrating aspects about taking pictures is when you forget all the photographic lessons you've learned. I made that mistake twice (that I know about) in just this past week alone.

On Tuesday, I joined community outreach workers with Volunteers of America conducting a national homeless census as they headed to a tent camp in the woods inside the highway interchange east of downtown Camden. We arrived as the snow was turning to sleet, just after dawn when everything was still dark, and everyone in the camp was inside their tents still asleep. I took just a few photos as the workers began approaching each tent, and then started figuring out a good angle for photos. I introduced myself to the first two people who climbed out of their tent, and I followed them as they were escorted from the woods to the van, parked out on the exit ramp. They were given a sandwich, and in a matter of minutes, the other workers were coming out of the woods with a half dozen other homeless men, including John Palumbo, below.

Because I figured the census would be taking place right there in the woods, I hadn't made many photos of the tent camp. My thought was I'd wait until everyone was awake, outside and being interviewed. I even thought the residents might be clearing snow off the tents, putting on their coats, maybe even brushing their teeth.

I didn't know everything would be moving immediately out to the van, and that after they were done, the workers (along with me and Inquirer reporter Matt Katz) would be taking off for the next stop. We didn't go back into the woods, so my anticipated "better" photo of life in the tents was never shot.

The lesson I learned but forgotten this day? Take pictures when you see them. Don't hold off shooting because you're waiting for something better to come along, but often never does.

I also made the mistake of not finding out exactly how the people in control of the situation would be working.

A lot of the pictures I make on assignments are the result of my anticipation - knowing how people might act in certain situations - and my reacting quickly as a photojournalist. That comes from experience, which can sometimes lead to a case of having just enough knowledge to get yourself in trouble. It never hurts to ask.

Unfortunately, I forgot THAT lesson just the following day.

On Thursday, I was in the office when we heard NJ State Police had found an underground bunker with a cache of semi-automatic rifles in rural Gloucester County. I didn't know until I arrived an hour later this had occurred three days earlier. The police discovered the stockpile that included everything from World War II-era firearms to rifles and modern handguns, a live grenade, gunpowder, and a canister of tear gas while investigating a Salem County burglary.

The 259 guns and nearly a half-million rounds of ammunition had already been seized and removed by the time the news got out. The Police Mobile Command Post and the television trucks were just pulling out as I drove up. With lots of experience arriving at stale news scenes, I tried to add some sense of drama to a straightforward picture of the owner's house by framing the scene with the remaining police vehicles.

Then I noticed officers working in the back end of the property and asked one of the officers about it. "We couldn't move the black powder, so they've got to dispose of it on site," he said. My mistake: not asking how that would be accomplished.

After photographing with my 300mm lens as the bomb squad "disposed" of the powder, Inquirer reporter Allison Steele walked up right behind me. At the very moment I turned around to talk with her, I heard a "pop" and saw her reacting with surprise. I spun back to see a giant fireball and a huge puff of smoke rising. I grabbed my camera, still with the long lens, and was able to make just one frame of what was left of the fireball...

...and then one of the officers stepped back into the scene, but by then, the smoke had mostly cleared.

It could have been a great photo...if only I had been ready for it...if only I had asked the police officer exactly what "dispose of" meant...if only I was standing in the right place, and...if only I had my second camera body with the wide angle lens in my hands when it ignited.

That's part of being a photographer. You get a lot of photos that are "if only..."

...to a new blog publishing platform. All the old posts and comments will remain archived on this site, but from February 5, 2009 on, the new posts can be found here.

See you there. TomG