I love stuff like that. Jerry Sowden was The Derrick visual reporter for 20 years and he is a great photographer. I always considered him a friend and colleague, I admired his eye and work. So when folks told me these things I understood and truly appreciated his impact on the community. At the same time, I was like, "I want to take that picture too, it sounds awesome."
We cannot make each other's pictures. And why should we. We have a voice, a vision and a way. Jerry was on my mind big time today when I saw this rainbow hovering over town and I wondered what his photo looked like that I heard so much about over the years. And how can I make a good photo of this?
So I laid down on the very wet sidewalk and pushed my camera (phone) towards the road and made this picture below.
I love my job.
The best part is I got soaked and it looked like I may have peed myself to get a picture that needs one more element. That reminded me of a time I really wanted to get a photo of a car spraying water at me on a flooded street in Meadville. I nearly got knocked off my feet to get a picture that really wasn't that great.
Photography can sometimes be an exercise is self-deprecating futility. But I won't trade it for anything. And I had fun thinking about all these things as I tried to take pictures of this rainbow tonight.