My Earliest Memory - Swim Trunks

One of my earliest memories is of some swim trunks I had when I was probably about 3 or 4 years old. Unfortunately, it is vague and foggy. I know they were bright yellow with green frogs or turtles on them. (See, I can't even remember which one it was.) I remember wearing them in my kitchen with my mom. I was sitting at our kitchen table with her and there were papers on it, but I don't remember any specifics of what happened that day. I am not even sure if I had gone swimming at all or if I was just wearing them in the middle of winter.There is a photograph of me in the trunks playing outside with a hose, but that photograph is not what I remember about the swim trunks. Perhaps this photograph just helped me to fill-in-the-blanks on what my suit had looked like on the day in my kitchen. I do think that it is an actual memory of the event because it draws memories of how I was feeling. I can also "see" the swim trunks in my head from a completely different angle than in the photograph. However, I did sit at the kitchen table with my mom a lot over the years. I could easily be joining memories together to create what I "see" in my head.As an adult, photographs still help me remember events from just a few years ago.I was married two years ago and details from that day are starting to fade already. I am very happy to have the photos to go back to now (and also in the future) to spark feelings of that day.

(The photo above is not what my swim trunks looked like exactly. I was curious if I could find them online at google images.)

The 35th Annual Beowulf Summer Party

On Saturday, June 9th, 2007, the Lafayette County Fairgrounds in Darlington, Wisconsin opens for the Beowulf Motorcycle Club's Annual Summer Party. Admission is $15.00 for anyone 21 years or older.

Although, the event is scheduled to start at 5:00 pm, party-goers start arriving in the early afternoon. Motorcycles, cars, trucks and RVs start filling up the fairgrounds.

Tents crowd under any available shade on the breeze less 80 degree day. Members of the motorcycle club set up the stage, soundboards, merchandise booths and beer gardens while motorcycles continue to pour in.

The Beowulf Motorcycle Club donates money every year to the Darlington Canoe Festival, making them Gold Sponsors. Their annual party is open to anyone, with or without motorcycles. Although there are a variety of motorcycles in the park, the majority of them are HarleyDavidsons.

The Beowulf Beer Garden serves ice cold Bud Light Beer or Boone Farms Wine. The beer usually comes in gallon milk jugs. They have a whole trailer filled with kegs and bottles.

As the sun sets, campfires and grills start up to cook hotdogs, brats and more. Admission to the party includes all you can drink and a midnight snack of sloppy joes and hotdogs.

People ride and drive in from all over, and many people have attended the event for years. "Glad it's not raining... It rained the whole night last year," comments Bob. Bob has been coming to Darlington for 4 years.

After the sun goes down, the night gears up, and the beer flows faster. A dozen kegs later, the featured bands start their sets.

The Canoe Festival's Harmony and Highlights Fireworks Show lights up the sky at 9:45 pm from across the river. Some dancers haven't even noticed.





The huge party continues until the sun comes up... And it was the Beowulf members themselves, still awake, sweeping up cigarette butts, emptying trash barrels and cleaning toilets. Putting Darlington's Fairgrounds back to "better than we started" condition.

Driving into the City of Darlington, you’d never guess a motorcycle club would call this quaint and quiet little city home for their annual summer party. The City of Darlington has been hosting the annual Darlington Canoe Festival for 41 years, and the Beowulf Riders Motorcycle Club has been celebrating their summer party for 35 years.

Beowulf is a legendary Scandinavian hero and warrior from a poem written in the sixth or seventh century. The lengthy poem describes Beowulf’s life, his numerous battles and his death. In fact, many movies have been made about this character and Paramont Pictures has a new one being released in November 2007.

The whole event opened on Thursday, June 7th and ran until Sunday, June 10th. On Saturday afternoon the Lafayette County Fairgrounds opened the admission booth and the Beowulf party started on the banks of the Pecatonica River. Admission is fifteen dollars per person and it includes everything you need. You get a camping location, all you can drink beer and wine, a midnight feast and live entertainment. There are a few vendors set up related to riding a motorcycle. They sell bandannas, t-shirts, tank tops, jewelry, patches and more. There is also a tattoo parlour in one of the fairgrounds’ barns for any brave person.

The Beowulf Riders donate money to the city of Darlington for the Canoe Festival, making them Gold Sponsors for the event. The four day event includes a carnival, parades, dances, canoe races, children’s shows, raffles, fire department waterfights and a lot more. The Beowulf Annual Summer Party is just another event on the huge line-up of activities.
Although the party is long, loud and a bit rowdy, the members of the club have a lot of respect for the City of Darlington and the fairgrounds. They took great care in the clean up of the park and facilities. This ensures them use of it again for next year’s bash.

Playing With Color!

I wanted to see if the "Reflection Room" photo would have the same feel in black & white so I posted the two here:

Official Photo Essay Proposal

Like I said in my earlier “precursor blog,” I am doing my photo essay on the 35th Annual Beowulf Motorcycle Club’s Summer Party in Darlington, Wisconsin. This event takes place every summer during the city of Darlington’s Canoe Festival. It is hosted by a Motorcycle Club and is sure to be an interesting time. I am going to capture the events of the day from 2:00 pm on Saturday afternoon until 2:00 am on Sunday morning.

My only concern is having my battery last the whole day while shooting. There are no outlets while camping here.

Portraits Of The Known & Unkown

I think a portrait of a person can really reveal a lot about someone. I also think it can be staged so you may not get the truth about them either. The environment can do a lot for a photo too.

It can reveal time, place, hobbies, sometimes time of day or the era. Together, the combo can give you a deeper look at a person.

Photographing my wife was simple, except she felt uncomfortable being out in front of the neighborhood. (Even though nobody was around.) It took some convincing to do a few more shots, but I was happy with the result too. My favorite is with the magazine.

It was more difficult to photograph a stranger, simply because there is a different level of trust. I got lucky since I spent most the day with my "stranger subject" in a casual atmosphere and the comfort level changed as the time went on. I think the results worked out well.

Rights To Privacy & Ethics of Photojournalism

Privacy is a very sacred thing for most people. A lot of us actually search out private places. We draw the curtains, put up fences and close doors to keep it that way. So, it is good that there are laws and guidelines to follow for photographers, because nobody wants to be photographed in an unflattering way.

I was surprised at a few of the public locations that were listed from Ken Kobre's book, Photojournalism, The Professionals' Approach. It seems that an airport, train station and bus station would all have restrictions on when and where you could snap a photograph. I would think that they would have certain security precautions that would limit a photographer in all areas. Such as ticket windows and luggage areas.

I think shooting from the street into someone's private residence, including their porch or lawn, is unethical and I would never invade someone that way. I can't imagine being photographed while simply watching television or mowing my lawn. Unfortunately, images of celebrities doing these ordinary things sells magazines and news stories. I am also guilty of reading magazine and news stories because of the scandalous photographs. I am glad that it isn't my job to capture those moments, because I think it is important to respect everyone's privacy since all people enjoy having it. Maybe if we broke our "addiction" to these images privacy would be taken more seriously by everyone.

Photo Essay Picture Story

This is just a precursor to the Photo Essay Proposal...
I am going camping at a Harley Rally this weekend and I think it will be a perfect opportunity to do "A Day In The Life..." at this all day, all night event.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/milwaukeeandsome/

Document Project Proposal

According to Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary, a document is the basis, proof or evidence of something. It seems that there are endless things that can be documented by photography. According to the definition, I document many things already; buildings, accidents, parties, friends and family. I decided that since I already photograph flowers in my back yard, I would document their growth.

I expect to be surprised at how much detail gets overlooked while viewing the garden from a distance. With each close-up of the plants I think I will see how much change a plant goes through over a few days. I might even catch insects and potential diseases.
On the other hand, the plants may not change as quickly as I expect and I may just simply capture a sense of timelessness.

This document would probably have more impact over a longer span of time or after some type of event. A heavy thunderstorm would probably change the appearance of the plants being documented. If I am lucky with rain over the next few days, I will document the changes afterwards. If it doesn’t rain, I will document the plants after being watered with the hose.

Light Photograph

Capturing Light

The best light is at sunrise or sunset.
The stronger, longer shadows that are cast make everything more dramatic in a way.
Maybe just the feeling we get when waking up or going to bed. And even though I am mostly a night person, my favorite light is at dawn. It is brief but usually awesome.

As for Szarkowski...
Both Detail & Frame are important points in photography to me.
I am fascinated with the close up details of objects and photogrpahing them sets them apart and makes that object special. I like shooting close up... as you can probably see.

Since we have the ability to easily crop and blow up images now in our digital times, filling the frame has become less "important". I do crop & adjust a lot in Photoshop now, but occasionally it is fun to try and shoot to fill the fram with exactly what you want.

Flickr Link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/milwaukeeandsome/?saved=1