uncommons

St. Charles County has long bucked the local economy with a wave of new housing and commercial businesses. Now the ongoing recession has hit the county headfirst with a dramatic slowdown in housing starts and unfinished construction. How will economic authorities figure out how to lure new jobs and industries to a city that is struggling to thrive? Take a quick read of our A1 story by Tim Logan at STLtoday.com

As photojournalists under the banner of a newspaper masthead, often we tell stories on tight deadline. This particular story offered a shocking two half-days of research, driving, and shooting to accomplish two photographs; one demonstrating a slowdown in housing and the other a juxtaposition of industry and residential. After scouting several developments and commercial areas used in the story, I settled on New Town, a master-planned community similar to the Truman Show, in the outskirts of St. Charles County. While walking the neighborhoods, I happened upon a street sign on the ground with vacant and unfinished houses in the background. The cleared muddy ground mixed nice with the manicured lawn. It seemed to resonate agriculture-turned-residential. Once the scene was established, it was just a matter of waiting for the perfect light. In this case, it would be the last few remaining minutes of sunshine as the sun met the horizon along the flat farm ground. The only worry was lighting the street sign. By exposing for the houses, the foreground would get lost in shadow. Either use fill-flash (despise it) or find a new angle. Fortunately, the last minute or so of sunshine cast a ray of light, highlighting the sign.

The second photograph, used as display in the print edition, required more scouting of neighborhoods overlooking the freshly minted neighborhoods. Fellow staffers gave advice from previous location scouting, but it came down to finding the right place at the right time to make a photograph. Oddly enough, there was a large dirt mound in the middle of a land plot directly overlooking the National Cart Company (below, they make all the shopping carts we love to photograph) and unfinished neighborhoods of New Town. Perfect! Once again, patience and good lighting paved the way for a photograph

Which is the favorite? The first photograph of the houses, because it has (in my opinion) a better quality to it with composition with the added tension of a wayward street sign. It tells the story quickly with a strong quality of light and mood. While neither of these two photographs excel past an average daily newspaper photo, at least it was nice to relish the opportunity to spend at least a short amount of time following the light.

(both) St. Charles County