Welcome to the portion of the web site that explains why my college English composition professor had to undergo psychological treatment for several years after I graduated. This vacuum of literary content is something we like to call the Contest Journal.
One of the things that makes Indiana great is the annual State Fair in early August. One of the things that makes the State Fair great is Band Day. It is the culmination of the summer track band season and features awesome bands from across the state.
Our friends at Bateman Photography invited us up to Indianapolis to shoot the show. "When the state fair people asked us to be the official photographers for State Fair Band Day, we told them that we would do it ONLY if we could get Tim and Scott from SI to shoot the performances" said Zhonda Shaw, the lady that makes it all happen at Bateman Photography.
Tim and I traveled up to Indianapolis the night before Band Day so we could get plenty of rest before the show. As always it was very important for us to choose the proper music to put us in the right frame of mind to shoot. Because State Fair Band day is the de facto track band state championship show, we had to be at the top of our game in terms of our photography skills to shoot all 44 bands participating in the event. Immediately it became apparent that only one CD from Tims collection could prepare us for a show of this caliber:
Ve Sklepe 1976/77 by the Czech supergroup Umela Hmota II
Click here and check out Umela Hmota's megahit "Horko"
Now if that doesnt get you exciting about spending the day shooting marching bands, I dont know what does!
After a good nights sleep and a hearty breakfast, we were ready to spend the day photographing the Indianas best track bands.
Because we were carrying camera bags, we had to go through an extra level of security.
Man, they were thorough. Someone owes us a dinner!
Because of the extra time it took for the security officers to "search" us, we were a little late getting to the grandstands. Fortunately our friend Amanda from Bateman was there and prepared to shoot. Here Amanda welcomes me to the shooting area and forgives us for being a little late.
We have shot in some awesome venues over the years, but nothing beats the photographers area at the fairgrounds. They even had a special area reserved for Tim and I.
While some photographers might insist that they need to have a totally unobstructive area to shoot, we welcomed the chance to shoot in an area surrounded by chain linked fence and pipes. We felt like the so called obstacles provided extra depth to the images. For example:
Something that we didnt count on was that the small gaps in the fence between the posts acted as a natural frame and helped us highlight some often-overlooked items that are very important to all marching bands.
like feet...
dirt...
...and whatever this thing is.
What a great show! We got a chance to hang out with our friends at Bateman Photography, shoot some incredible performances, and found out that we were hernia-free! We can hardly wait for the fall season to begin.
