Prescott is a small city in Arizona where many
veterans have retired. While parades are relatively small, the respect and
devotion shown to veterans is vast and continuous.
I took my 1954 Canon rangefinder and one roll of ASA
100 film to capture a few moments. While there were hundreds of digital cameras
shooting non-stop at any moment of the parade, I looked for my usual “people
moments” to describe an angle other than what was going on the main streets of
town.
After all I had rolled less than 20 frames of film
in the canister and I needed to use each frame with a purpose.
Also, this time I did not use a yellow filter on the
Canon 1.8 lens. I wanted to let the off focus areas be less sharp and
dreamy. I also took the shade hood off to allow old-fashioned flare do its trick -- this lens can provide unexpected bokeh on sunny days.
The Super Man was surely picturesque, especially for
B&W photography. But I wanted to have all in the foreground and those in the
background as blurred as possible. So, I set the aperture to 8 and the speed to
125.
This next frame was almost perfectly constructed for me
to just click. The man in the wheelchair has a Chicago Cubs sticker, his face
is solemn, and in the background is the City Hall as a rectangular and natural
frame. The parade participants are just behind the man but the old lens did its
magic in making them feel distant and in a fog.
Needless to say that on such a day, patriotism is
front and center to all expressions, speeches, songs and parade programs. I
found this man’s T-shirt perfectly describe the atmosphere in town.
But, there is no street photography without a facial
expression of surprise! This time, I had two faces look at me as if wondering
who still uses mechanical cameras and film!
These two lap dogs actually seemed
to express the surprise of quite a few people who stopped me to ask “Is that
really a film camera?” A young woman came to me and asked to see the Canon
rangefinder. “I have never seen a film camera” she started. “My father had told
me about these.”
… That made me feel real happy, indeed.
So, these photos represent what I saw at the parade.
Oh, of course there were marching bands, horses, WWII Jeeps, and other old
cars. But I am a street photographer of people, and had less than 20 frames of
film to shoot!
November 12, 2017
© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2017
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