These two boys must have stopped by my house on their way back from fishing on Cape LaCroix Creek. I see my old toy tractor on the left behind them and the family’s 1959 Buick LaSabre station wagon on the right.
I think the fellow on the left is one of the Fiehler boys and the fish killer on the right is Kent Verhines‘ brother (Brad?).
A lesson in photography
I ran into this boy on Broadway at Capaha Park. It was a rainy day around dusk, do I debated whether to shoot him with flash or available light.
The flash photo is crisper and more contrasty, but the raindrops reflected light back at the camera and the background went almost all black.
Available light photography
The available light shot isn’t quite as sharp, but it more accurately captures the “drowned rat” look of the kid. I almost avoided flash whenever possible. After all, if God wanted you to use flash, he’d have lit the world with lightning instead of the steady light of the sun.
More kids in the rain
These kids were walking along splashing in puddles right about the time I saw the fisherman. You can tell it was shot with flash because of the light reflecting off the raindrops. That’s the reason why you don’t drive with your high beams on when it’s snowing or foggy. The light will reflect back off the snow or fog.
Well…you have soem nice shots here…the shot Brad Verhines Kent’s younger brother is a good one…when ever I am in Cape at teh Elks Club I usually run into Kent Verhines and John Hodges sitting and getting adult bervage. Nice rain shot and good catfish the youug lad has caught!
Ah, but if I had a quarter for every little bluegill I caught on “doughballs” or worms out of the Capaha Park lagoon. Mom cringed when I brought any home. Regarding catfish, I once caught one considerably bigger than pictured on a little doughball. One time some out-of-town adults showed up at the lagoon and cleaned up on catfish, casting ‘way out there’ using crawdads for bait. The local kids standing around eventually got a little resentful, those foreign folks catching so many of “our” fish…never mind that none of us could cast that far.
Thanks for sharing these photos, Ken, and giving us another photography lesson! That last photo of the kids is priceless! There they are in wet swimsuits, and the little girl on the left has an umbrella! Precious!
Photographers love boys with stringers of fish and little kids playing in the rain.
Instant wild art.
Once you’ve got that in the bag, you can coast for the rest of the day, knowing that you have SOMETHING for next morning’s paper.
Of course, the rain shots were taken at the end of the day, so I must have been getting anxious by then.
The other kid with Brad Verhines is Mike Fiehler
Van, Thanks for putting a first name to the face. I knew he was a Fiehler, but wasn’t sure which one.
“After all, if God wanted you to use flash, he’d have lit the world with lightning instead of the steady light of the sun.”
Just like you, he tried both.
Yes thats Mike Fiehler and me I don’t see Mike very much just once in a blue moon but I still fish alot and I am sure he does also.
GREAT WEB SITE KEN!!
Glad to see you check in. I was pretty sure that was you.
Poke around. You may see other members of the old gang on here.
Does anyone know if the good lord ratioed that light or bounced the light off of umbrellas?
I think the good lord helps some photographers more than other. A photographer named Paul Strand influenced my portrait style quite a bit, but he was also a superb landscape photographer.
I always thought his landscapes had some divine help. I could envision someone upstairs saying, “I see Paul is setting up his camera again. Put that shaft of light over there; move that mountain a few miles to the left; create cows to walk into the frame….”
The last photo – more kids in the rain – is of myself, four of my siblings and a neighbor from up the street.
Nina Meyers (with umbrella), neighbor girl, Scott, Kerry, Joe and Sue Meyers.