Tuesday, October 06, 2009

His crash, my rise

"Hayden Couch, 14, wrecks after attempting a jump on 40 North in Springville, as a fall storm moves eastward through Utah, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2009. Rain and snow showers fell throughout the day in Utah County and temperatures were cold enough that gardeners needed to monitor frosty conditions. "[Snow and rain] is not going to stop us from having fun," Carter said. "Yeah, I have a coat on," Hayden said."

I mentioned it in recent previous post, but I wasn't shooting very well for two weeks.

Oddly enough, and I hate lyric references, I was listening to "Beck" and heard their lyrics, "I been drifting along in the same stale shoes..."

That's exactly how I felt. Shooting the most mundane, stale, flat images. For two weeks, in my mind, I didn't make a decent frame. It was frustrating.

Things didn't start out good when I got back to work at the beginning of the week either. Utah was having their first winter storm (I know, winter storm and it wasn't even October yet) and I was sent out to find a feature; after my first assignment that is.

Well, when I left for work it was raining in the valley, and snowing up the canyons. It was cold. I could have easily made a feature somewhere.

By the time my first assignment was over, the sun was peaking out and it was warming up.

I drove around for a solid hour or more, not finding anyone outside. So I headed back to the office to wait for kids to get out of school and clear my mind of my first feature hunt failure of the day.

By the time I ventured back out, the sky was getting gray again. But still no one was outside. I passed some kids playing out on the sidewalk in Springville, riding bikes, but I thought I could find better.

However, it then began dumping rain, sleeting and snowing, too. I made a U-turn and speed back. Luckily they were still out riding bikes.

I just tagged along as I got soaked. They loved the wet, cold weather and were setting up a ramp for their friend.

Well, first attempt didn't go so well. Crashed. But he was OK.

But I got a frame I liked. Something sparked inside of me and reignited my drive. His crash was my rise.

We ended up running a standalone of him actually jumping, although I liked the above and then the aftermath of the crash. The latter two I am still debating which I like better, but liked the actual wreck itself more I think. Thoughts?

5 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Aftermath of the crash" photo is better. His face is covered by his hands instead of the front tire in the other photo. Expresses the pain (or the shame) of the accident better.

Tuesday, October 06, 2009 1:44:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Absolutely the aftermath is the image. Not even close in my mind.

Tuesday, October 06, 2009 9:37:00 PM  
Blogger Scott Strazzante said...

I like the crash photo better.
The aftermath has better composition, is a quicker read and tells a complete story but I still like the rawness of the crash.
The best parts of the crash photo are his hat as it tumbles towards the ground and his out-stretched arm.
I think the instinct sometimes is to give all the answers in a photo but sometimes it is better to leave more questions.

Wednesday, October 07, 2009 10:08:00 AM  
Blogger Kendrick Brinson said...

i prefer the aftermath because of the body language, for sure

although the other is quite odd and i like that about it

Thursday, October 08, 2009 4:45:00 PM  
Blogger little brad said...

i like the aftermath better, mostly because i can tell what's going on.

Friday, October 09, 2009 10:28:00 AM  

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