Cheap Shots

I don’t know about everyone else, but I enjoy going to the schools to take pictures because you are almost always guaranteed images of people actually doing something. I like portraits, but I would prefer to catch people as they are actively participating in an activity because it tells you more about who they are and what they do.

The tough part of photographing in a school is that many of the children are not allowed to be in the paper because the parents have filled out the registration form and said “no” to their child’s image being used. I completely understand the reasoning behind this and respect every parent’s wishes. However, this can make it very challenging to get a compelling photo. I just want to share my recent experience to give everyone a better idea of some of the hurdles we encounter each day.

Today was the first day of school and Raju Woodward and I went out to Cheldelin Middle School to document the first day back. The school is great and everyone there are wonderful and helpful. We spent a little time before the first class bell taking pictures of the chaos of students trying to get in their lockers, find their way to class and catch up with their friends after several months away. After all was said and done and the pictures were taken, I go to the office to see if the children I photographed are ok to run in the paper. Most times this doesn’t present any problems, but today I had some bad luck in that most of my pictures contained someone that was not allowed to be in the paper.

This is the photo that is running. Nothing too spectacular, but an ok photo.

This photo was really a last choice because the other ones I liked better wouldn’t work. The one I liked the most had one child who wasn’t allowed to be in the paper.

I liked this photo better than the one that ran because it showed more activity in the hallway, with the one student frantically running through the hallway. This really shows the feel of the morning, but it just couldn’t run.

Again, I don’t want to sound down about parents restricting their children’s ability to be in the paper because safety always comes first. Just wanted to share that it isn’t always about just getting a great photo, there are always other factors that most people may not realize.

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