This is one of my favorite photographs, and also a great example of what you can capture when opportunity meets preparedness.
Kids at Play
This photo was taken in the Black Rock section of my hometown, Buffalo, NY. during one of my many walk about’s. Unfortunately, the business is no longer extant.
When I’m out on one of my photo walks, typically I will take a meter reading and set the camera aperture and shutter speed to my preference. Depending on how bright the day is, I’ll use either an f8 or f11 and set the shutter accordingly.
Then, I pre-focus the camera using the depth-of-field scale to as close as possible with infinity as the farthest distance. And off I go. This is my version of “Point and Shoot”. I still use this method with my film cameras today. Mostly because I’m still using them! Modern digital cameras with the auto everything’s require far less pre-planning. Not that there’s anything wrong with that…
When I look back at some of my older work, I often wonder what the place is like, where the people are and what they’re doing today. This photo was made sometime around the fall of 1978. That would mean the girls would be entering middle age. And that’s one of the greatest things about photography. In this photo, they’re kids forever…