Tonopah High School Homecoming Dance

Completely out of character for me and as ordinary as mud for others......


A friend of mine called last Monday and asked if I could take his place photographing the homecoming dance at our local high school. His plan was to make a CD and give a master copy to the kids and let them have at it. I un-wisely thought what if....

I contacted my friend Will who is the leader of the youth group at the Baptist church and said, what if we print these on site, put them in 5X7 frames and charge the kids $15 for them. I would donate my time and some ink if they would buy paper and frames.

I used my Nova Tron 500 W sec. lights that get used far too infrequently. I did a butterfly with one lamp at -1 and a 3rd lamp lighting the background and perhaps providing a bit of hair light from the side. Camera was my Nikon D200 set on medium / basic. Optimizing was set on SO (softer)

Everything was going fantastic until my Epson 2200 decided it would make tire tracks in every print on the HP paper that the folks bought thinking it was the best. Best, maybe, but not in the Epson. Ultimately as the night unraveled I did about 60 portraits and raised $860 bucks for the kids but it cost me an entire day playing catch up on the printing.

So much for my little fray into digi photography. Wet darkroom and black and white, here I come.

Oh, and yes, no one thinks twice about high school kids wearing cowboy hats in Tonopah, Nevada

Jim

I think you have captured the sweeet innocence of youth- they both look so american!
good job on this-

Charlotte-

I like it. Future memories.

Hi Jim,

What a story, thanks for sharing it with us. There are some people I know here in Holland who earn some money using the same business model. It is very noble of you to donate the money, materials and time to the charity. I have also done similar, albeit smaller scale jobs for my daughter's school in the past. It can be great fun but not so for a perfectionist like me who sweats over every detail (LOL).

Cheers,

Thanks all for the comments. Yes, when the headache and frustration of equipment that wouldn't work right has subsided the enjoyment of working with kids this age is left. All in all the kids are very nice and you are hopeful for a younger generation of good people to carry on.

Funny how depressing the news media is and then you work with the good kids and think, it just might be alright.

Jim, I like the sample shot. Nice work.

I had a simlar experience the other day visiting a building college, where a competition was taking place. The engagement of the young people in their work was a real encouragement given the usual media impression given of 'young people today'...

Mike