Hats Off!

 

This photo was originally posted in color, but after some simple post processing, I was intrigued by this monochrome rendering. I was on the track at the Kezar Stadium, and with the sun reflecting off  a puddle left behind by a recent storm, I wanted a silhouette of a runner positioned in front of the reflection in the background. I had almost a dozen variations on the shot, but chose this one with the runner in the background, with a second runner "walking it off" in the near foreground.

Subject's View

There were some problems photographing into the sun. With the camera in the "Hail Mary" position (camera held high overhead), I could achieve the composition I desired, but now had the problem of the sun shining directly into my eyes.  I struggled to frame the image while squinting against the sunlight. I solved the problem by taking off my hat, lengthening its adjustment strap, and hanging it on the lens barrel. The hat kept the sun out of my eyes which allowed me to concentrate on the composition. In this historical recreation of that Eureka Moment, you can see that only one hand would be needed to hold the camera, leaving the other free to manipulate a speedlight, or in this case, snap a low-angle photo.

This certainly isn't a genius moment, but it did allow me to address the problem using only the hat off my head. It took me a few minutes to realize my hat would make an effective sun shade. In the future, when a similar situation arises, I'll already have a solution.