4th of July parade collage in chronological order. Individual photos follow.
Every year I photograph the annual 4th of July parade in Lamoni Iowa. In addition to the 14 “selects” I share below, I discuss the equipment I use, the number of photos, and at the end of this article I describe what I look for when I photograph a parade. “Selects” is newspaper/magazine word for the best photos (the photos selected) out of all the photos created. An editor working on an event article might say to a photographer, “Send me a dozen of your selects”, so the photographer would send 12 images out of all the photos that were created at the event.
Equipment
For events I use two cameras with lenses. Usually the camera straps hang around my neck and off my right shoulder. My Canon 5D Mark III has a 24-105mm lens (my everyday, all purpose lens) and my Canon 7D Mark II has a 70-300mm telephoto lens. (Sometimes I use a 100-400mm lens instead of the 70-300mm lens.) Most days I take most of my photos with the 24-105mm lens. But at parades I usually take more photos with a telephoto lens. A telephoto lens allows me to isolate individual subjects, especially at a distance, and it creates an interesting perspective when shooting a long line of subjects extending into the distance. In a backpack I also have two really wide angle lenses, a flash unit, plus memory cards and extra batteries.
Photo Totals and Selects
The break down of total photos is as follows:
24-105mm lens – 48 photos
70-300mm lens – 83 photos
iPhone – 2 photos
I usually pick 9-12 of the best parade photos to send to the local weekly newspaper and the paper usually publishes about half of them. If it is a slow news week, they publish more photos.
The first time through all the images I initially selected 27 favorite images (9 from the 24-105 lens and 18 from the 70-300 lens) and then I narrowed that down to 14.
The collage at the top has my 14 favorites. 3 were taken with the 24-105mm lens and the other 11 were created with the 70-300mm lens. For those of you who are photographically curious, the 3 photos created with the 24-105mm lens are: photos 1 and 3 in row 2 above, and photo 3 in row 3 above.
The individual photos follow. Click any of the images to see a larger version, and especially the horizontal images.
Before the parade.
Waiting for the parade.
The Color Guard, Raphael Coulthard, Marine.
The Pledge of Allegiance.
Tractors and trucks as far as the eye can see.
“God Bless America.”
“Go bold or go home!”
“Lady Liberty” times 5.
Waving at the truck drivers to honk their air horns.
Chasing candy.
No Lamoni parade is complete without riders on horseback.
All God’s creatures love a parade.
The parade is over.
Heading home after the parade.
What I Look For
When I photograph a parade, what am I looking for artistically and compositionally?
First, people and faces. It is all about people. I try to get a mixture of ages from adults to young children.
It is important to include people in the parade and people watching the parade. I try to get a good mix of both. I try to get a few closeups that include one, two or three people (first two photos), photos that show small groups of people (like the next to the last photo), larger groups of people (like the children chasing candy), and a lot of people (like the crowd all along the parade route).
I look for special moments. The photo of the color guard holding the U.S. flag and people with their hands over their hearts during the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag is deeply symbolic.
I look for action, like the children chasing candy that has been thrown out in the street.
I look for an abundance colors, and since it is the 4th of July I look especially for red, white, and blue. And of course, some American flags. There were dozens of vehicles in the parade and some had no 4th of July decorations at all. As the tractors, 4-wheelers, trucks and trailers rolled down the street, I looked for the most colorfully decorated. They look best in the paper.
Due to the layout of Lamoni’s Main Street and the hills at each end, I try to get some perspective photos that show the length of the parade down the street. You can see that in the color guard photo, and the “tractors and trucks” photo. Those photos have to be taken from near the middle of the street on the hill near the west end of the parade route, looking all the way back to the hill at the east end of the parade route. I had to move left and right in the street to get the color guard centered between the two vehicles right behind him.
Most of the DSLR Photos
Most of the Canon 7DII parade images. Click the image to see a much larger version.
This screen capture shows most of the 4th of July parade photos taken with the 70-300mm telephoto lens. There are two versions of each photo, a RAW file and JPEG file. Some of them are marked with stars. They indicate my first selection of the best images. I cut this selection down even farther when I picked “selects” for the paper.
All of the Canon 5DIII parade images. Click the image to see a much larger version.
This screen capture shows all of the 4th of July parade photos taken with the 24-105mm telephoto lens. Like the prior screen capture, the stars indicate my first selection of the best images before I cut the choices down even further.
Links
Three articles on choosing “selects”:
How to Choose, Correct, and ID Football Photos for the Newspaper
Trunk or Treat: Choosing The Best Event Photos
Total Photos vs Choosing “Selects”: What Is Your Percentage of Keepers?