Adam Cairns Photography

…at band camp, I took some pictures.

I drove down to Jackson, Ohio yesterday morning for two local schools (Scioto and Westerville North) conducting their band camps this week. I didn’t stick around long enough to bring back my own, “One time, at band camp…” story, but I did try to make a variety of photos in that short amount of time.

I had the opportunity to visit the Hartford Fair (The Biggest Little Fair in the World) in Croton, Ohio this afternoon. I’ve heard good things from other photographers about this fair, but this was the first time I got to experience it myself. It definitely didn’t disappoint.

The fair, which is about half an hour northeast of Columbus, was a blast from the past. It wasn’t overly commercial like other county fairs and the state fair have become. To get to the main concourse, you have to walk through a field of antique tractors. There is a bigger focus on animals and competitions than on neon lights and amusements.

I was free to roam wherever I wanted most of the day, but my only requirement was to shoot the frog jumping competition. Some kids brought their own frog, but most picked their jumper from a dozen or so that were on hand. The competition was held under one of the covered, open-air pavilions. This worked out in my favor since the sun was beating down from directly overhead. Kids went four at a time, and had a minute to do anything they could to get the frog to jump, except for touch it. Parents and fellow competitors watched from outside the black walled-off circle.

I got a lot of pictures of kids clapping, blowing, and pounding their fists, but not many of actual frogs jumping. This frame came together perfectly. The sunlight coming in from outside the pavilion gave the girl a nice rim light. The rest is just ambient exposure. A lucky jump and clean background completed the frame.

CAPTION: A strong breath was all it took to entice 5-year-old Dylan Cunningham’s frog to leap 29 inches during the frog jumping competition at the Hartford Fair on Aug. 4. Cunningham, from Thornville, was one of more than 60 competitors between the ages of 2 and 15 to enter the contest.

CAPTION: Kids at Reed Road Water Park wait out the 10-minute break while being splashed by counselors from Thompson Park and Once In A While day camps as they do cannon balls off the diving board on July 29.

Sometimes I’ll drive around all day looking for wildart, and sometimes it takes no time at all. I found this duo fishing in Hoover Reservoir as soon as I crossed the bridge into Sunbury, where we needed a feature photo. I thought about driving around longer since this photo came so easy, but with the cost of gas, I’m not going to chance throwing away a good photo if it might mean 50 more miles of driving around.

CAPTION:
Recently retired Jerry Gedert spends his morning fishing off the dock in Hoover Reservoir at Alum Creek State Park’s Cheshire boat launch area with his 3-year-old lab Hunter Riley on July 22. Gedert says Hunter isn’t much help catching bluegill or bass, but the dog enjoys swimming in the reservoir before and after fishing.

Here is a shot of Ohio State’s Chelsea Davis, the reigning NCAA 3-meter springboard diving champ. As soon as I got the assignment, I began brainstorming how I could shoot this portrait. I’ve shot a lot of diving action but only a few portraits, so I asked a few of my diving friends if they had any suggestions. I knew I would have the luxury of being able to climb to the top of the diving tower, so this was the best idea we could come up with. Since I’ve only been in the OSU aquatics facility a few times, and never for diving, my biggest concern was that I wasn’t going to have a clean background below the diving board. As you can see, it turned out perfect.

Chelsea is on the 3-meter board, and I climbed up to the top of the 10-meter platform to shoot down with my 70-200mm lens. It took a bit of moving around atop the 10m platform to get the right angle without any overhead lighting glare. I know I lost a bit of the sense of height with the longer lens, but it did a good job of giving me a clean background.

I used two lights for this. The first is shot into an umbrella reflector at the base of the diving board looking at Chelsea. The second light is below the board pointed at the water. Both were at half power triggered by Pocket Wizards.

Climbing up and down all those steps with my gear in a humid pool on a 90-degree day left me awfully sweaty by the time I got back to my car, but I’m happy with the result.

CAPTION:
Worthington Kilbourne graduate Chelsea Davis recently placed 12th at the U.S. Olympic trials on the 3-meter springboard. The Ohio State senior won the event in front of her hometown crowd at the NCAA championships in March.