Photos by Bob Crum

Back in the day in the south Florida wilderness, wildlife – cottonmouth snakes, diamondback rattlesnakes, alligators and black bear – were constant threats to life and limb. Mosquitoes and no-see-ums (biting midges) equally menacing. But none of that prepared me for the start of the Fillmore Rotary's 5K-10K race last Saturday.

I didn't see a photo op as the racers gathered. Nothing exciting about photoing a horde of racers on the run from the sidewalk. What to do? Faithful readers know that I'm predisposed to photographically capture the ordinary in an extraordinary way. As a photojournalist, I eschew comfortable limitations. But would I dare execute what I was thinking?

I walked beyond the starting line and took a position in the street. The idea: Shoot approaching runners! Perhaps a low perspective would be more interesting so I kneeled. Switched to AI servo focus mode. Also switched to 'slow' burst mode. Ready!

Race on! As the runners approached, I started shooting. I was gleefully photoing! Glee was short lived! I did not plan on runners with only one thing on their mind: Win the race and not SEE me in the street. Several runners almost ran into me, swerving at the last second. Quite a harrowing experience! I quickly realized it was time to escape. I stood up and gingerly sashayed through the throng to the safety of the curb. Thank goodness the stampeding runners weren't bulls!

Though I captured a few photos during the stampede they're not quite what I anticipated. Should have used my 11-16mm ultra-wide angle lens. Alas, another learning experience. Anyway, I now know how I'm going to shoot the race start next year. I can hardly wait.

Afterward the parade. As usual, photographing from the curb produces photos about as exciting as watching garden slugs race. So for marching bands, I prefer to get in the middle of the street... my signature MO. The Fillmore High School band is used to seeing me there scrambling out of the way at the last second. Such is my exciting drive to create distinguished photos. I'll shoot the rest of the parade from the safety of the curb. Ho hum.

Then on to the May Festival carnival. The photo ops: Hundreds! With a variety of rides and games, and people having fun, it's a great opportunity to explore many methods of creating photos with... ahem... a camera. Generally speaking, I keep aperture at f/11. At a carnival I'm not inclined to isolate a single subject by depth of field. For story telling with images I prefer to keep everything from foreground to background in focus thus f/11 is generally the rule. However, I'll vary shutter speed considerably in order to illustrate movement. A slow shutter speed blurs the object illustrating movement. In all cases, auto ISO will usually adjust, within reason, for proper exposure. Hint: for exposure checks, don't rely on the camera's LCD review screen. Check the histogram!

After the perfunctory daytime photos, I went home for supper returning after sundown for the night photos. Difficult to say in polite language the issues with carnival night photography. Bright lights make getting sufficient foreground ambient light to show people a huge challenge. There is no one aperture/shutter speed setting that works in all situations. Check the histogram... adjust as needed! A tripod is helpful in such situations and very beneficial for recording video. Parade & carnival photos soon.

Send comments, suggestions or questions to bob@fillmoregazette.com