A New Year, A New Stanley, A Great Tip-Off
It's the beginning of a new school year at New Stanley Elementary in Kansas City, Kansas. NSE sits in Argentine Neighborhood, a richly cultured and diverse area. The building in it's current location was built in the 1920's, and has evolved into a multi-story, multi-building school that is soon to host an "open-to-neighborhood" state of the art playground. Thanks to all of the wonderful people at NSE for all of their hard work in planning, fundraising efforts and future sweat (and probably tears) for the playground project.
NSE kicked off the school year with a "Back to School Night" following the first week of classes. This year's event was held on the current playground, and the weather was great. The faculty was sporting their NSE Jerseys (which are sweeeet) among other NSE gear. "Famous Bo Dawgs" donated their time, food, and labor. They prepared and provided hot dogs for the event. I was not able to meet the cart owner because he was working feverishly to serve the guests, but I heard through the grapevine that his dad actually attended Stanley and is over 90 years old. He is a first generation student who's son is giving to the community in which he lived. That's how it's done in the 'Dotte.
New Stanley has been the home of my two youngest children since they started school. I have nothing but great praises to sing and share about my experience from a parental perspective. The sense of community is ever-present, and the sense of family is commonplace. Children remember their teachers throughout their lives, as I remember many of those that influenced and guided me through the maze of education. The administration, teachers, staff, and even security at NSE care deeply for our children and it shows. They communicate with us, and expect our participation in return as parents. I want all of them to know that they are immensely appreciated, and that the community wouldn't be the same without the very people that occupy the NSE buildings.
I was privileged to make a few photos of the "Back to School Night" event. Thank you Mr. Most. I have posted several photos. They are license free, and free to download for any use you see fit. Just view full size, right click and download away. If anyone needs a version without my watermark or in a larger size for large prints, please contact me and we'll work something out. As always I would appreciate any likes, shares, or visits to my main site as readers feel are deserved. Feel free to leave comments if you are so inclined.
As far as the image particulars: God said "Let there be light" and there was light. A lot of it! The sun was beating down pretty hard, so with each angle and position, small tweaks to exposure were made. I stayed in the F2.8-4.0 range. Because there was so much activity, I felt it best to try and isolate my subjects to tell small individual stories opposed to keeping everything in focus and capturing too much info. I shot the event exclusively with the 85mm prime and moved my feet. My shutters were pretty quick hovering between 1/340-1/800. This also helped with focusing on so many moving targets. I started shooting at around 5:45 pm. I noticed that there was a nice rim-light opportunity when shooting camera Northwest, so I took advantage of it when possible. The exposures off the camera were fine, but I did find myself using vignette to dim peripheral objects and bring more focus to my subject. I also used graduated filters on some photos to direct the eye to the point of interest. I didn't do any post in Photoshop or any other application, as a slightly enhanced documentary method was used to capture the event. Here are the pics:
