The Blog of Photographer Jacob Vorpahl.
Every year, Trinity Baptist Church of Jacksonville, FL has a festival, complete with fireworks, for the 4th of July. Every year it seems I’m gone somewhere else, like training or Iraq, for example. Not so for 2008. This year I found myself home and able to attend what is definitely one of the cities better 4th of July spectacles. Since this is my home church and I am actively learning photography, it would be kinda hard to pass up so good of an opportunity, right? Lessons learned inside.
Crowd during the Ashes to Glory concert at Trinity’s 2008 Family Freedom Festival
As all preplanned, but out of your control, photography events went, I had preplanned shots I was looking for and when I showed up it was apparent that I wasn’t going to get them. Right smack dab where I wanted to put my tripod for the fireworks shots later in the evening was a car show with some oldies lined up for the crowd to check out. I felt a little bummed because the shot I had in my mind was now impossible, but, oh well. Don’t cry over spilled milk right?
So, my wife and I parked the car and I grabbed my camera gear and we were off. The itinerary for the day was a performance by a band that some of our friends put together, called Ashes to Glory, which would provide some photos opportunities, followed by some crowd shots and then culminating in my first try at getting a photo of fireworks. I probably never would have included the crowd shots if it wasn’t for some advice I received from a fellow Flickr member (and one heck of a photographer) Don Giannatti. He looked at some shots of mine and said that, while there were some good photos there, he couldn’t find any context or sense of my style. So, while an event shot is not going to help me develop my sense of style (at least, not yet), it will provide me with a chance to put some of my other shots in context.
When we entered the crowd area, the band was setting everything up so I had a few minutes to go with my wife and find the rest of our friends. After locating our spot for the day (and evening), I snatched up my laptop bag that I use to carry all my equipment in a disorganized fashion camera bag and went off to go scout out some shots. I went up with my wife to go say hi to the band but we didn’t make it in time and they started playing. So I naturally pull out my camera and wouldn’t you know it? THAT’S when some friends of mine walk up to start talking to me. I try to be as nice as possible but I really wanted to start snapping off some shots I tactfully exited the conversation and went to work.
Lesson learned: Don’t be afraid to get out in front of people.
Since this is my church and I know some of the people it may have been easier for me, but I had to jump right out there and start shooting in front of the crowd who was in the picture at the beginning of this post. At first I was a little hesitant, staying back BY the crowd and taking my pictures. After looking through the viewfinder and seeing what was resulting from that, I threw caution to the wind and went where I needed to go. I was in front of the stage, to the side, in the crowd, moving all around, wherever I needed to be, that’s where I went. Sure, I wasn’t an official photographer, but if no one is going to stop me, why not go for it?
Matt Todd singing with Ashes to Glory
I had my 70-300mm VR telephoto zoom lens on my Nikon D80 and set it aperture priority mode. The light outside at this point was good enough that I figured the camera could do the leg work with the shutter. I wanted to get individual shots of each of the members of the group and that turned out to be successful in most cases. The above shot is probably one of the better ones I could get of Matt. For whatever reason, with the exception of two members of the band (and the ones I in coincidently couldn’t get good photos of), everyone performing had these very straight forward faces on. They’re not rockers, so we wouldn’t see anything crazy in their facial expressions, which unfortunately make for good photos. Oh well, as long as they sound good, that’s what matters right?
Matt singing with Shannon of Ashes to Glory
Continuing on, noticing that the alone shot of Matt needed something a little more, I decided to move to the right a little and squeeze in Shannon, the lead female singer of the band. There really isn’t anything artistic about these shots, just something to document the event. However, we all know that those photos aren’t what we are after so I’m going to have to work on my technique to create something unique.
Guitarists Yoshi (foreground) and Troy (background)
I moved on to the two guitarists and after snapping off a few shots of just Yoshi, I realized that it would be a good shot to have both of them in it. However, I should have increased my aperture to something greater than 5.6 as it would have been nice to get Troy more in focus. However, the trade off would have been a slower shutter which might have made Yoshi’s hand a little more blurry. But that might have looked better. While this shot works, I might have been able to get one better.
Lesson learned: Don’t get lazy with your settings while shooting. Spending a small amount of time making a little adjustment here or there might pay dividends in better photos.
Joel of Ashes to Glory playing bass
For whatever reason, the two members of the group making the best facial expressions (at least for use in an interesting photo) were the two who I could not get a good picture of. The above picture was the best photo I could get of Joel who was on base, and I did not get a single decent photo of Devin, who was playing drums. I even stepped past the yellow barrier tape on the sides to try and get a good photo of Devin and it didn’t work. Anytime I would be ready to snap some photos of them they would turn away or make some really weird face (sometimes caused by an awkward photo, sometimes caused by an awkward facial expression), which resulted in me having nothing really good to show for either of them.
Shannon, lead female singer, of Ashes to Glory
Finally I moved on to get a good shot of Shannon and this is what I came away with. For the purpose of documenting their performance, I think this photo, as well as the others, accomplish that goal on a level that is definitely above your typical consumer fair. However, I want to make some really GREAT photos that not only document the event, but make you say ‘Wow’ when you see them. I don’t think I am at that level yet in my abilities, but, I’m getting there. Moving on.
Now I wanted to get some creative shots as well as documentary shots so I started to look for photos beyond just the performers. Remember what Don said- Put the shots in context. So I wanted to kill two birds with one stone and I threw on my 10.5mm fisheye lens.
Ashes to Glory performing in front of Trinity Baptist Church
I knew there would be few opportunities to use my Nikon 10.5mm DX Fisheye lens when I bought it earlier this year for a significant sum of money (at least it is when your budget it small), but, I like having it around. It can provide some unique perspectives that really open things up or make you look at them differently. I still have by no means mastered it, but using more and more I’m understanding its uses better. The above shot is one of those occasions. Now, if I would have had a wide angle lens (which is tied on my list of ‘glass to buy’, along with a replacement for my 18-55mm kit lens) that might also have worked but I like the fisheye effect from this photo. It makes me feel like I’m being pulled into the picture. Maybe that’s just me. I took another fisheye photo, which was the crowd shot at the beginning of this post. I basically just turned around from where I was standing from the above shot and then took the crowd shot.
Child racing on an inflatable while attached to a harness at the Family Freedom Fest
I stopped taking pictures of the concert at that point after noticing that it was starting to get darker. I had left the tripod in the car at this point because the thing would be too heavy to carry around. I wish I had it on me for the above picture as it just isn’t sharp enough. I pretty much just stood in front of the line of kids waiting to board this thing and took a couple of pictures. They were all pretty rowdy in anticipation of getting on and I didn’t want to be the guy who makes this serious when they were all having fun (this wasn’t a paid, ya know?) so after I got a couple of pictures I moved out of their way to allow the fun to continue. I’m not really happy with the shot, but, it works I guess.
Child competing in the speed pitch contest
I took who pictures of the above event. The one you see here, which is the technically inferior photo, and this one. The second has better lighting, it’s more crisp, etc. However, this one has the ball in the air, while the other has the ball already hitting the backstop, making it disappear in the viewers eye. I chose to post this one here because it actually looks like something is going on, even if the kid looks like he’s hugging himself in the small version. Click on it to get the medium version and you’ll see what I’m talking about. While I’m not happy with either photo (and I really need to come up with some better solution for when it gets dark… like, I don’t know, taking out one of my 5 strobes? Sheesh, remember, don’t be lazy use gear if you have it!), it is what it is at this point. Make better photos in the future, right?
Crowd at night waiting for the fireworks
I took another photo with my fisheye of the crowd at night from the side. It probably doesn’t look very good at such a small size, so try clicking on it. Here it was used just to get a different perspective of what was going on and I like it. It’s actually one of my favorites of the whole bunch, despite the limited perspective provided through medium on Flickr, it actually looks like nice full size.
And then we have the final picture, the one I came here specifically to get: my first fireworks shot. I set up my tripod where we met our friends earlier and unfortunately people came and sat down right behind me so I was blocking their view. Me trying to be the nice guy, I looked around for another spot. It just so happens I found one and it might have even been a better shot. I snapped around 20 pictures using a cable release, which I picked up just for this shot (and I wish I’d have picked it up sooner) and things turned out nice. I thought I had a really great, colorful shot at the end, but they threw up so many fireworks at one time that it created a nice big fat spot in the middle of all the bursts. So, I chose this one instead, and I think it turned out pretty good.
Fireworks at the end of Trinity’s 2008 Family Freedom Fest
I held the shutter open for 20 seconds and received this exposure at f11. For my first fireworks rodeo, I think it went rather nice. It definitely made me excited for New Years when we’ll get another good fireworks display here in the city (but not from Trinity).
All in all, I’d say it was a good experience and it made me aware of some techniques I need to work on. Anything that you learn from is good in my book, but it wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t put some effort into actually doing it instead of putting it off, which happens some time. It makes me want to improve and I look forward to posting better event pictures in the future. Good times.
