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I was on assignment in New Jersey. It was Thanksgiving Day and I was shooting at a public dinner for the "less fortunate." It wasn't specifically for homeless people, but there were homeless there. It was also for people who maybe couldn't afford a big Thanksgiving meal, or didn't have the knowledge or time to cook one, or maybe didn't have anyone to spend the holiday with. It was held in a church and lasted for about 6 hours. People were welcome to come at any time, stay as long as they wanted, and eat until they couldn't eat any more. There was even some entertainment of church groups singing.
I actually had fun there talking with different people and took a variety of different pictures, some for the assignment and some for myself. I even had time to sneak a little of the food. I noticed this one lady with her boy at a table and tried to talk to them, but didn't have much luck. I guess they either didn't speak English or didn't really want to talk. I at least got out of them that she was the mother to the little boy. I thought she looked old enough to be the Grandmother, probably because of her body language. She sure didn't appear to have much energy. After watching the boy for a while, I figured she was just exhausted from trying to keep up with him all day long, every day.
The boy did what most boys his age do as soon as he finished eating. He started getting fidgety, then sliding down his chair, then crawling around under the table, then when told to come out, went running around the table and then around the entire room. I watched as he did all this and took a few photos of him running around. When I looked at the mother, she seemed sort of defeated, like she either did not have the energy to chase after the boy or didn't know how to control him. I guess I felt a little sorry for her. I wanted to help her out, but I didn't want to step into territory where I shouldn't have been stepping.
My solution was to see if I could get the kid to stop long enough to pose for a picture with his mother. That would calm him down for a minute and get him close enough to her so she could hang on to him and not let him run around anymore (if she wanted). I caught the boy as he went screaming by the table. I kind of pointed and used gestures to show him that I wanted him to go over to his mother so I could take their picture together. He appeared to agree to it and she seemed grateful for the opportunity also. This is the one and only shot I took of them because she let go of him and he took off to run around some more.
Feel free to comment and leave your opinion about it.
It was taken with a Nikon D70 at a focal length of 42mm because I was right next to them. I used a side mounted flash with the shutter speed of 1/60 of a second and aperture was f/4 because I wasn't interested in having a focused background beyond my subject.
"Put your makeup on Baby, fix your hair up pretty
And meet me tonight in Atlantic City" - Bruce Springsteen
I am happy to announce that Ty Randall photographic products are now available in the fifth retail location at the Borders Books and Music in Mays Landing, New Jersey. Borders is located off exit 12 of the Atlantic City Expressway.
One thing I noticed on my drive down to deliver my postcards and bookmarkers to Mays Landing was when I got below mile 56 on the Garden State Parkway, I started passing signs that were facing backwards. I turned to read what they were and discovered they were signs saying "Wrong Way."
I of course paid closer attention after that to idiots that would be driving up in the wrong direction on the interstate. Maybe those signs are for all the summer tourists that go to the shore and have a little too much to drink before driving home. Shortly after the "wrong way" signs I also started noticing "One Way" signs posted on the side of the parkway. I guess that was in case I didn't notice the traffic moving in the same direction for the last 100 miles.
I had to laugh as I wondered exactly how far south Atlantic City is that people down there are too stupid to tell which direction they were supposed to be driving on the highway. I really wanted to meet some of those dim-wits, because I'm sure they would make a great photographic subject. Unfortunately, I was too sick when I delivered my stuff, so all I did was drop it off and drive right back home again - following the one way signs of course.
Feel free to let anyone else you think may be interested know about this.
Below is a sample of one of my postcards from Margate, New Jersey, which is a stone's throw south of Atlantic City. Lucy the Elephant is a famous New Jersey landmark built as a hotel by a land developer to attract tourists and landowners to the area. Apparently it worked. If you want to read more about Lucy, go to http://www.lucytheelephant.org/.
Just wanted to let you know you can now find Ty Randall Creations products in the Bridgewater, New Jersey Borders Books and Music store. This makes my third Borders location and fourth retail location where my products are available. Like Flemington, the Bridgewater store is currently carrying my postcards and bookmarkers. Until I do more art shows or gallery exhibits, you will have to go to the Watchung (NJ) Borders or the Great Frame Up store in Livingston (NJ) for my hand-made photo cards. See the posting about the Flemington store for a sample.
Just an announcement that you can now find Ty Randall Creations products in the Flemington New Jersey Borders Books and Music store. They are carrying my local New Jersey postcards and hand-made photo bookmarkers. The Flemington Borders store is currently the third retail location and second Borders store to carry my products - East Brunswick was first, but they closed in January 2008, and Watchung was next.As you can see from the small sample below, some of my postcards are sort of unique and perhaps a little more unusual than a typical postcard. They may be views of familiar places taken from different perspectives than you are used to seeing or maybe of local scenes you would not expect to see a postcard of. My bookmarkers are high-quality pieces of an actual photograph. Inspired by Jerry Garcia ties, which use only a portion of the original artwork, I take a portion of my original photograph and create a bookmarker of it. Sometimes I create several different products using the same photograph, sometimes it's a unique piece. I don't really like wearing ties, but I do read a lot, so I thought I would make bookmarkers instead of ties. As these things usually go, you do a few for yourself, you start giving them away to friends, others start requesting them, and before you know it, you're running a small business. You can see the bookmarker samples on my website under the fundraiser section.
