I remember that quote from a photography appreciation course I took in college. I think it was attributed to the late, great crime photographer Arthur “Weegee” Felig, but I could be wrong. The point not being your aperture setting so much as that to get a good photograph you have to make the effort to be at the right place, at the right time.
Marie at Disarranging Mine recently paid bloggity tribute to the Springfield photoblogger extraordinaire Jerome Prophet. He’s been doing a fantastic job with his photobloging. Is there anyone else in any medium documenting Springfield like this? I don’t think so.
It’s interesting how JP's blog has evolved so quickly into the Springfield photoblog of record. The sad part is, it, like all local blogs, is relatively unknown. I think if people knew about JP, they would be clicking-in on a daily basis.
Now, I’ve known Jerome Prophet since we were both grade-schoolers at Blessed Sacrament School. I think we joined forces in about sixth or seventh grade; he was the class clown and I, too shy to act up on my own, was his head writer. I’m not sure any of our classmates would have described either of us or the rest of our posse as “normal”. We've always looked at the world a little askew and from angles maybe a little non-conformist.
Fast forward to our college years. We were still best friends and often introduced each other to whatever new experience we had recently discovered. One Christmas I finally got a good 35mm camera. Something I had wanted for some time. JP quickly followed suit and we were off to all kinds of photographic adventures. I think we both had an eye for photography for a while but, like everything else at that age, the enthusiasm and dedication faded after a while and we both gave it up as a hobby.
Fast way, way forward to 2005. We both start blogs. JP quickly realizes what a great medium blogging is for displaying local photos. Long dormant talents begin to reemerge and now we have one of Springfield’s premier photo -dare I say it- journalist.
And what’s JP’s secret? Well, without asking him I suspect it’s mostly what’s in the title of this post –be there. Go get it. Record it. Share it.
1 comment:
Are you working on my obit?
We were, what the kids call today - nerds. While science played a role, we were not geeks - just curious.
We were bored with the system long before we even knew that there was a system.
And while we may have been nerds, of a sort, that didn't preclude all the self destructive phases - I won't itemize.
It's fun.
We managed somehow to make it into adulthood, and we quickly discovered that most of the best paying jobs were created by, and held by nerds.
Still it would have been nice to have been born better looking, and rich.
Photography has been in my blood for many decades, but that interest did wane until I became a father.
With digital photography anyone can take hundreds of photographs, and eventually find one or two good images - I'm just lucky in that way.
JP
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