Kids on Trikes, field under powerlines, Woodrofe and Hunt Club, Nepean ON, 1998 i took this shot while on assignment for capital city magazine. i was sent to shoot some pictures for an article on hydro electricty. i was shooting these massive powerlines that cut straight thru Nepean/Ottawa/Gloucester and these kids started following me and asking questions. being the crotchety old guy that i am i told them to fuck off. just kidding. after i got what i needed for the hydro story, i let the kids check out my camera. the older guy on the right, was super interested and inquisitive. the guy on the left (who was three) was a bit shyer and didn't have much to say. i let them take a few photos of me and then i shot a couple of them.
of course, i ended up shooting more than a couple frames, changing lenses, composing the shot etc. ten minutes later one of their mom's notices me taking photos of the kids, gets a little anxious and calls them in. i attempt to reassure her that i wasn't a pedophile, that i was legitimite photojournalist, and offer her a contact sheet, but she just hightailed it back into her house.
this photo reminds me a lot of a an amazing photo taken by Rob Ben which appeared in robzine and on the cover of the Phleg Camp double 7". Rob's photo was a fisheye shot, from above, of a smiling kid (missing his front tooth) on a play structure in Atlanta i believe.
holy shit, i just did a web search for robzine and i found this at www.rockcritics.com - top five photographers:
01: Shawn Scallen
02: Glen E Friedman
03: Bryce Johnson
04: Chris Buck
05: Robzine
COMMENTS: I, like Mr. C. Buck, also take pictures to fill a void in what I see rock photography is. BUT when I started taking pictures it was a way for me to not pay to get into shows.
HANDLE: Bryce Johnson
LINK: http://www.popped.com
CITY: Toronto
wow. thanx bryce! i am not worthy... i think the last time i saw bryce was at lollapalooza 1 in toronto as i was leaving. he was telling me about processing colour film in B&W chemistry and then taking it to a lab and having them process it again in colour chemistry. he was really gung ho on digital stuff too. i originally met him hanging out shooting punk shows in toronto around a decade ago. for some reason i'd always see him at trigger happy shows... i think we bonded while discussing the problems faced by larger photographers when eclipsing fans to get the shot, either that or how we both started shooting to get into shows for free. ha ha.
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word of the daysextillion - n. a cardinal number written as 1 followed by 21 zeros.
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