A Little News

Decatur firefighters work to control a blaze in a house at 1403 Vicksburg Circle SW Friday morning. The fire apparently started in the attached garage heavily damaging the structure. Jimmy Prickett pulls the overhead door out of the way so firefighters could more easily access the garage area. Daily photo by Gary Cosby Jr. 11/21/08

I covered a house fire Friday morning.  It was an unusual fire in that it happened in a really nice and fairly new home in one of Decatur’s newer neighborhoods.  There are always house fires in the older and poorer sections of town but it is pretty uncommon to have one in this neighborhood.  I can remember only one other near here and it was a really bad fire.  The fire department did a really nice job of containing the fire in the garage area and the homeowners plan to renovate and move back in.

I know it is not the politically correct thing to say but I like covering fires.  If you understand my background you will understand why.  I grew up around the fire service and spent a bit over six and a half wonderful years as a volunteer firefighter myself.  I have a deep appreciation for the fire service and no matter how far removed I get from those years of service I still feel a deep connection to firefighters.  My dad just retired after serving the city of Muscle Shoals, Alabama as fire marshall.  He was a volunteer firefighter when I was born and we even fought fire together during my years as a volunteer and those are still some of the most rewarding experiences I have ever had.  So now you know why I like to cover fires.  I was born with firefighting in my blood and it will never truly go away.

So, to the point.  I used to just get worked up covering fires.  It was like a giant, visual smorgasbord of opportunity.  I would just bang away without much thought to anything like composition.  I just wanted to get some good stuff with flames or, lacking flames, some really good smoke.  I still look for those things but now I am more of a photographer and less of a firefighter.  I look for composition and moments and whenever possible, composition within moments.  That is what separates photojournalists from the guy standing there with his cell phone camera.  Yeah, he will come away with a picture and if he is insanely lucky it might even have a moment in it.  A photojournalist looks for composition, light and moment no matter what he is shooting and that includes spot news.

This fire had some excellent smoke opportunities and the light was direct sun but it was back lighting the house so the smoke was lit from behind which created some opportunities to create those compositions.  The point here is to not get so excited or so nervous that you forget to do your photojournalistic duty.  (I can’t tell you how many times I have seen this abused on the sidelines at football games.  I mean, really dudes, you can’t be a fan and a photojournalist so pick one!)  Look for moments.  Work composition and light and see if your photos don’t improve when you are shooting spot news.

Photos copyright Gary Cosby Jr., The Decatur Daily.  The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily represent those of my employer.

There is something about the human brain that likes shapes. A crafty photographer will use all kinds of shapes to help grab a reader’s attention. If you have ever studied composition, you know that triangles are your friend. The triangle does not have to be literal of course but the elements in the photo that form a triangle tend to hold the eye. Well, we are not going to talk about triangles. That was just free with admission.

We are going to deal with using some naturally occurring shapes to help you make some pictures. Shapes can come in geometric forms, amorphic forms and even alphabet or numeral shapes. Any or all are just fine. The point is that shapes help keep the reader where you want him and that is staring all google eyed at your photos. (Apologies to the now famous search engine!)

You can define shapes within the frame using any lens in your bag. The real key is in seeing the shapes yourself. Many times when I am searching for a feature photo I will look for shapes to help carry an image. When I find a cool shape, I will just hang out until I have a photo or come back repeatedly, even for weeks or even months, until I get a situation that yields a nice photo. Perhaps now would be a good time to review the post on developing photographic patience. Anyway, why waste a good spot when nothing is going on. Other times I just blunder into a good shape and, BANG!, the photo practically slaps me in the face.

Sometimes you can spot a good shape and bring a subject back later for an interesting portrait. Keep a file, either mental or written down somewhere, of locations where you can check up on when you need a good portrait location or a good feature photo. These can be lifesavers when you have to have a shot really fast. Let’s talk about the photos now.

The first image is one that really appeals to me. There is something in my brain that just really digs the inverted horseshoe shape made by the ceiling which frames this stairwell on the Delta Queen Riverboat which used to dock in Decatur. The boat is now either in its final year of service or has been retired due to a government regulation barring wooden hull boats from carrying over a certain number of passengers. The Delta Queen is a truly historic boat and I have personal fond memories of seeing in lock through Wheeler Dam as a child. My grandfather was lock master at Wheeler for many years and we would go down and see him and see the riverboat going through. It is one of those warm, fuzzy childhood memories that have stayed with me over the years.

Anyway, I used a Nikon D2Hs with a 17-35 zoom with the camera placed on the floor. The only thing I could wish for would be a little less exterior light shining in the bottom of the frame and for a lady in an old fashioned southern ball dress to be on the stairwell instead of a guy in shorts and flip flops. Oh well! The low angle and the wide angle provide a nice combination that emphasizes the curvature of the lines and, like I said, causes the photo to really appeal to me. It is one of my favorites. Architecture is a great source of shapes and every place has architecture so keep your eyes open and your idea file handy.

Next we have a photo on the opposite end of the visual spectrum. This one was shot with a D2H and a 400 f2.8 S lens. I don’t remember for certain but I may have used the 1.4 teleconverter with this image. I was out near Pryor Field, a small airport in southern Limestone County and they had relocated the road to create a longer runway. The new road formed this nice, lazy “S” from a certain point of view and the telephoto compression really helps the image. All I had to do was wait for a vehicle to come along to give some perspective and I had another arresting image. It is just really cool to see these things. You can go back there now and not see this image at all because the grass along the sides of the road obscures the edges enough to make this shot impossible. Right time, right place, right lens.

The last image was made with a 17-35 on a D2Hs in Point Mallard Park’s Aquatic Center. We do a bunch of photos in the Aquatic Park so it is always a challenge to come back with something a little different. I walked up to one of the water slides just trying to see differently and suddenly I noticed this big number “6″ formed by the slide. I wish I could have been a little more elevated but there was no way to do that but the shape is still visible. Really, life is full of shapes when we take a step back from the daily routine to recognize them.

The best way to do some compositions using shapes is to go out looking for them. You drive around your city every day and never really see it. I remember reading a Sherlock Holmes story once when Holmes asked Watson if he knew how many steps led up to their flat. Of course, Watson didn’t know. He had never paid attention but Holmes knew exactly because he did pay attention. Shapes are everywhere. So, are you Holmes or are you Watson?

Photos copyright The Decatur Daily, Gary Cosby Jr. The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily represent those of my employer.