Downtown Prescott feels like a metropolitan area on the
4th of July and Christmas. The rest of the year, there is plenty of
parking for cars, the same people walking their dogs, and a slow pace I have
learned to love and cherish.
So, on this 4th of July, I wanted to stay
away from taking “parade pictures.” At some point all parade pictures are the
same – people waving flags, smiling for hours, children eating candy wrapped in
patriotic colours, and veterans of past wars wearing hats identifying the war
and the battle they were in and survived.
Instead, I looked for the frontier spirit and the
cowboy identity.
To do so, I cleaned a 1960 Nikkor-Q 20cm telephoto
lens I had not used for many years. It used to be my favorite travel lens on a
1969 Nikon F since the 20 cm lens is very light given its aluminum construct
and simple 4 lens group construct. Amazingly this lens takes contrasty and good
definition photos.
… Prescott, given its high altitude of 5,500 feet
and lack of any major industry, has one of the best air qualities in the
country. So, when I saw this woman, dressed as the Statue of Liberty, I wanted
to change her political message into a literal one. I waited a second to have
the cigar store as the backdrop to frame this shot:
As expected, there was a group of men, in mountain
man attires and riding their horses and mules. In this instance I wanted to
contrast the modern city to the mountain man, and used the street lights as the
backdrop. The lens was opened to f5.6, at ASA 100 and 1/125 second shutter
speed:
And to finish, man and his horse surrounded with
cheering crowds:
Sure, there were old cars, politicians asking for votes,
and a parade of 1940s farm tractors running like Swiss watches. I just wanted
horses and mules to keep an image that one day will be overtaken and overcome.
Till then, this horse will have his parade and his
smile!
PS/ I posted the digitized photos in original size to show the prowess of the 1960 Nikkor-Q. To see the entire photo click on it or slide the bar .
June 30, 2018
©Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2018
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