Photo Shoot: 'When duty calls' the Times photo team heads out
Winter finally arrived on Mardi Gras, delivering a fat menu of precipitation choices — rain, sleet, slush and finally wet snow. I have never considered myself a “storm chaser.” One who races about looking for the perfect place to find the most horrible weather situations.
But when duty calls, the Cape Cod Times photo team heads out into the thick of whatever comes our way, hurricanes to blizzards. The three of us are geographically set up for Outer, Mid- and Upper Cape, so we can keep our hazardous driving to a smaller area.
Every storm has its own profile, which offers clues as to where to look for the best photos. A check of a weather phone app for time of high tide, wind direction and it's out the door. The “perfect storms” always line up with our print deadlines.
If Tuesday’s storm had started with snow earlier in the morning it would have been a big help. Starting early in the morning, my first batch of photos were all rain images, not good when the online editor is looking for snow images. By the time I started sending in my second batch of photos the snow was coming down strong. This creates the age-old photojournalist dilemma, keep making photos and miss deadline, or stop to send images and miss something.
As it was Valentine’s Day eve, I kept a keen eye out for an image that would tell both stories in one image. This meant staking out a candy store along Main Street Hyannis.
Over the years I can honestly say you meet the nicest people in lousy weather. When Mavae Valdo came out from the Kandy Korner into the swirling slushy snow with a big bucket of ice melt, I was ready. Dressed like an offshore fisherman in head-to-toe foul weather gear, with a camera on each shoulder, I approached and introduced myself. This is always the moment of truth and can go several ways, a quick rebuff or a stern, “get lost.”
But something about the adversity of sharing a common bound with another soul also out in the elements working creates a common bond. He was happy to be photographed. He tossed out handfuls of salt against a backdrop banner of holiday candy while I made pictures, our entire interaction was less than five minutes. But I left feeling better about the state of the world, which is why I head out in horrible weather, to tell the stories of those also out facing off against the weather.
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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Photo Shoot: Staking out a Hyannis candy store during a winter storm
