Home Town Parade

Fuji X-T2" 1/30, F 4.5, ISO 12800  10-24 lens @ 14.5mm.

Long Day: I had a morning assignment in San Mateo, and an evening assignment in Redwood City. The former was a Christmas Brunch for members of SMPD Police Athletic League and their families. the latter a Home Town Parade in Courthouse Square. There were events scheduled throughout the day, and the finale would be the lighting of the town square Christmas Tree.

Christmas 2024

Last year was the final appearance of the Holiday Train, a special CalTrain complete with decorated cars and a special "rolling stage" where carolers sang along with the crowd. It turns out that much of the necessary equipment was not compatible with the newly electrified fleet of trains. This year the event was re-booted as a family event featuring vendors, carnival rides, and a variety of holiday-themed vendors in front of Courthouse Square in downtown Redwood City. As in years past, a parade marched through the downtown area with floats and marching/walking units from local schools, business, social clubs, and philanthropic organizations.

Christmas 2023

In 2023 I made some sketch photos at the parade, and I liked this one in particular. I used a narrow beam flash to light the foreground faces while doing my best to keep both the sky and the Fox Theater marquee reasonably well exposed. 

Richard Avedon once said that if you look into your viewfinder and see a photo you've already taken, stop and rethink your approach. Keep it fresh, he might have said. But since this was just a "sketch", I don't feel compelled to follow his advice. I really liked the effect that this lucky confluence of exposures (the sky, the marquee, and the flash) all came together. I had context for the image, but no basic story, no raison d'être. If it did, the photo might have had legs. Alas, it was not to be.

Train Theme: The event organizers managed to pull together a link with the past by running a motorized train, complete with passengers, past the historic Redwood City Courthouse. When I first saw it rolling down the street, I felt the train in the photo would provide a visual link to last year's Holiday Train. I started to walk beside it, attempting to find a good background. When it passed in front of the Courthouse, the visual elements, background and subject, started to fall together. However, when it passed by a particularly well lit vendor's stall, the train was noticeably brighter, so I decided that if I was going to make the photo, I should  take advantage of this extra light. My first attempts came up short, so I decided to wait until the train returned to the "station" and pick up another group of passengers.  This also gave me some time to adjust my shooting position to improve the background somewhat.

Look closely at the brass-colored pipes along the engine's side and you will see that the lights from the vendor's stall cast some very distinct shadows. This validated my shooting position, and after three round trips by the train I managed to get this one photo just before some pedestrians walked into the frame. Had I made the  shot a bit earlier in the evening there would have been more light on the Courthouse, and the sky would have been brighter. But I played the shot where the ball landed, and was very pleased with the result. And in spite of my penchant to add a flash, none was needed. Blessed are the fast lenses and the high ISO capabilities of my Fuji system. The combination certainly delivered the goods.