For the past 12 months I have been wanting to go down to Thunder Alley during a basketball game and photograph Thunder fans with my 4×5 view camera. I never made time to do this. Last night I knew was a good chance to be the last Thunder playoff this year, so I packed up my gear, loaded some film holders with Ilford 400 sheet film, and hiked downtown and set up my gear. Coaxing unknown people in for a photo with a great big view camera on a tripod always puts me out of my comfort zone, so I just make myself do it. I had pretty good luck with getting interesting fans in for a quick portrait session. It was misting rain the entire time so I wasn’t able to shoot exactly the way I wanted, but like any good photographer, I improvised and got the job done.
Afterwards I was in my FJ Cruiser, loaded up and preparing to leave, with my wipers slapping at the drizzling rain and the glare of streetlights making it hard to see the road. As I was about to get on I-235 I told myself “What are you doing? Rain makes for great photographic opportunities, nobody is home waiting on you, an umbrella is in the truck. GET YOUR BUTT OUT AND TAKE SOME PHOTOS!!”
So I did. There were very few people walking the downtown OKC streets since the Thunder basketball playoff game was going on downtown, but I parked my truck, grabbed my Olympus OMD EM5, set it to black and white preview, and went walking downtown. I love shooting with black and white preview on my OMD since the electronic viewfinder allows you to preview your scene in black and white. It really teaches me to “see” better in black and white so that I can better concentrate on form and lines and geometry. It is a different experience than my view camera, but both are fun and relaxing for me.
This is what I like doing when I have nothing else to shoot.
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