Single Flash Assignment

Residents of the Den Apartment Complex check their bingo cards in Columbia, Mo. on March 11, 2015. The Den hosted its first "Grocery Bingo" night for the residents and have more planned for the future. The prizes were bags of groceries from Wal-Mart.

Anthony Hudson (center) laughs at a joke told by Amber Lucas (not pictured) during the "Grocery Bingo night at the Den Apartment complex in Columbia, Mo. on March 11, 2015. The Den hosted a bingo night for residents with prizes being bags of groceries from Wal-Mart.

 

The single flash assignment was definitely as step into a territory that I am not that familiar with. I have used flash before on portraits and that is about it. It is a completely different game using a flash on someone who is standing still, and aware of what is taking place. With this assignment, at least on the second take, my presence was extremely noticed by the people around the subjects that I was photographing.

            In the first take I followed two people that pick up trash in some of the parking garages around campus. I found them in the Hitt Street parking garage and asked if I could follow them and take some photographs. They seemed hesitant at first but allowed me to do so. But they had just finished that garage and only had the Turner garage left. This garage was much smaller but I followed them from the first floor to the top. They were in a truck and I was on foot so it was a chase from most of the time. The bounce flash worked better than the direct flash because the height of the ceiling made it very difficult to avoid the shadows cast by the direct flash because I was hand holding and couldn’t get the flash high enough.

            In the second take I found a bingo night close to where I live and photographed at one of the tables of participants. As I started photographing them, people at other tables started to move away from where we were. The bounce once again worked better for this shoot. I shot directly overhead and it created a nice, soft light falling down onto the table. Both selects came from this.

            I am not a fan of using flash in this manor. I understand that this is partly because of my inexperience with using it. But while photographer is invasive already, using a flash seems much worse. Using flash influences the scene to a degree that makes it difficult to use in a public setting. This is especially the case when not on an assignment. I don’t have credentials hanging around my neck, so I am viewed as nuisance. It is basically a “Look at me!” moment.