Outside Talker
Scott Baker from the Coney Island sideshow
Taken on Kodak Tri-x 400 film
Nov, 2014Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken outside the Coney Island Circus Sideshow, Brooklyn, NY. It shows the outside barker, Scott Baker, pitching his bally. That means he's talking up the show and bringing out performers to do one free act in order to attract a crowd. That crowd will then go in to see the rest of the show.Time
This photo was taken in the afternoon on August 26, 2014Lighting
The lighting was kind of interesting because the sun was so bright on his face, but the background had a lot of shadow covering it. It took a lot of dodging and burning in the darkroom to get the lighting correct. I wanted his face darker to give him some texture, and the background lighter because I felt the banners behind him helped to create the scene and experience.Equipment
I used a Pentax K1000 with a 35mm lens and Kodak Tri-x 400 filmInspiration
The funny thing about sideshow, and Coney Island in general, is that it never changes. I think I could have taken a photo like this in Coney Island in the 1950s. There's a great timeless quality that I look for in a lot of my photographs. It's always interesting when you look at a photo and you don't know if it was taken yesterday, or 40 years ago. When I snapped this shot I had that idea in mind.Editing
The only post-processing I did was just a little dodging and burning in the darkroom, then again in Adobe Lightroom once I scanned it it. I find when I scan images in they come out kind of faded so I like to boost them up again like they were when I originally printed them.In my camera bag
When I shoot film I really only carry around my Pentax K1000 with a 35mm lens, and a lot of rolls of Kodak Tri-x 400 film. That's the equipment I learned on 2 years ago when I took a high school summer course in darkroom processing/ printing at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Since then this is what I've been using and it's worked out just fine.Feedback
My advise would be to observe everything, be patient, and plan out what you want the shot to look like before you take it. I find when people move on stage they go in a pattern, so get all set up so when they step into your zone you're ready. It's difficult to set up your shot while you're following them with your lens, so don't, they'll come back around. Also, anticipate their actions. You might not know what they're doing or where they're going, but you can probably figure it out, so set up your shot for where you think they'll end up.
