A Day in June (Behind the Shoot)

[...] I discovered that playground during a weekend trip to Indiana Dunes. It wasn’t the greatest neighborhood we ended up in when driving into Michigan City but I wanted to see how close I could get to that power plant. We spent a day at the beach that day where the plant was part of the beach scenery and although Michigan City wasn't really on our way back home, I thought it would be worth to check it out.

It's like life, staying on the main road following all the other people doesn't give you too much excitement, taking the side roads is where the fun starts, and that's how you discover things as a photographer. You can be one of the photographers having close by Gary, IN on your bucket list and lining up with all the other photographers to take just another picture with a model posing in the ruins of City Methodist Church, or keep your eyes open for things on the side roads. There is a lot to discover, you only need to keep your eyes open and stop your car.

I stopped my car in that deserted neighborhood, next to a school or some community center. The playground was fenced but there was a gap in the fence that made it easy for me to get in there. Somebody once gave me the advice to check the cars parked in the street to get an idea how safe a neighborhood is and seeing many 1990’s Buicks didn't really convince me to stay too long. But then, you are a photographer and you have to take that extra step for a shot—with your camera. The other advice - I gave myself is, to take a few shots from a safe spot before entering premises for the real pictures, just in case people kick you out - or kill you.

Standing in front of the two ran down swing sets, immediately created a picture in my mind. There wasn't much I had to compose, the scenery was picture perfect. The background was the way I wanted it. I only had to find the right point of view and angle to get one of the swing sets positioned in a way to add the necessary drama. It was a perfect shot with my kit lens. While looking thru the lens and pushing the trigger I swear I could hear kids laughing and screaming and this swing set came to life.

I heard the same kids laughing and screaming again when editing the Spring Awakening picture and I knew the picture tells a story. Spring Awakening made it into the Best of at VOGUE Italia’s website the next day. Spring Awakening was more a Photojournalism or Street Documentary shot, but the missing kids stayed in my mind. I had to revisit that place some day and add some life to it.

For Spring Awakening, it would have been bad having random kids playing around that old spring set. The deserted swing set had more power. But the new picture needed them. To make a picture work and set into a specific time era, you have to make sure things are perfect. Make it staged and plan the details.

A Day in June was born and after a bit of casting I found the perfect kids. Sara Ann, my Little Red Riding Hood featured in VintEDGE Magazine #1 and Beth K. a pageant princess with a personality and expression that will open her some doors outside of the sparkles and glitter world.

A Day in June was not about Michigan City, and it was not about America or Germany. It was about a fictional town located somewhere in my mind built by some faded memories and flickering images of TV shows I watched as a kid, combined with snapshots of my real life. It was about Silvy’s dad, Silvy’s flawless face and maybe about Muehlheim-Kaerlich and the view I had on that cooling tower that looked like it was sitting right in the middle of my hometown after it was completed, and then it was also about America and growing up in a small town in the States. [...]

for a limited time VintEDGE Magazine #2 - Winter 2013 is available for FREE download. Get your copy today http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/666615