Girl Scout "giving project" (aka, trip to Target with a bunch of tweens)

divamum · December 14, 2009

(If this should be in "People", by all means move it, but seemed to me it was more candid in nature, hence why I've put it here. No problem either way :thumb)

C&C always welcomed!

My daughter's girl scout troup did a charity project for a domestic violence shelter - they were assigned two women and their children to shop for, and the troop leaders took them to Target, gave them a list and a budget, and watched what they came up with (personally, I wish this project was a little more actively involved with the people and less with the shopping, but that's another story for another day. I digress...)

In any case, I went along as 'archivist", and here are a few shots. I have to say the Canon 50mm 1.4 performed admirably - who knew that you could get pretty light in a Target?! (answer: you can't, but the nice bokeh on the 1.4 fools you into thinking you did :rofl). Except for the bw shots, these have had minimal processing - they were shot in raw, so just the basics of white balance, exposure, and input sharpening. A couple had minor crops, but that's it.

1 Reading the list

2. Checking out the "dollar store" aisle

3. making choices

4 Looking to see if new shoes fit into the budget (the one in the pink crocs is mine, btw)

5 Choosing a book to include

5b Checking with some of the others to see what they thought about the book

6 Troop leader caught by surprise (yes, she's looking at the camera, but I include it both for technical reasons - I'm proud to have exposed this so it looks ok even in an ugly environment like Target's fluorescence - and she is NOT an easy person from whom to catch a good photo. She's both a blinker and freezes when she sees a camera - I love how natural this one is)

Elaine · December 14, 2009

Looks like fun! And that last one is very natural and very nice!

I like the conversion. How'd you do it?

bdcolen · December 14, 2009

divamum wrote:

(If this should be in "People", by all means move it, but seemed to me it was more candid in nature, hence why I've put it here. No problem either way )

C&C always welcomed!

My daughter's girl scout troup did a charity project for a domestic violence shelter - they were assigned two women and their children to shop for, and the troop leaders took them to Target, gave them a list and a budget, and watched what they came up with (personally, I wish this project was a little more actively involved with the people and less with the shopping, but that's another story for another day. I digress...)

In any case, I went along as 'archivist", and here are a few shots. I have to say the Canon 50mm 1.4 performed admirably - who knew that you could get pretty light in a Target?! (answer: you can't, but the nice bokeh on the 1.4 fools you into thinking you did ). Except for the bw shots, these have had minimal processing - they were shot in raw, so just the basics of white balance, exposure, and input sharpening. A couple had minor crops, but that's it.

Very nice job, DM

I could do without the troop leader shot at the end, and would rather have seen the girls loading their stuff in the car, maybe with troop leader helping. But what you have here is a solid picture story, which with slightly more detailed captions is the klnd of thing that certainly could run in a community newspaper. That said...

...just as I'd like a closing shot of the loot being loaded in the parking lot, I'd like a wide opening shot that would set the scene - perhaps wideview of the store interior with the girls in the foreground from behind?

Again, nice job - I'm really happy to see you doing this, and to see it here.

lizzard_nyc · December 14, 2009

Hi Divamum,
I like your series--with #5 and 5b being my favorites. I just like the intensity with which they are looking at the book.

Oh if only the girl chewing her nails knew the ending of the book, she wouldn't have nails left:)

divamum · December 14, 2009

Thanks Elaine, BD and Liz!

bdcolen wrote:

But what you have here is a solid picture story, which with slightly more detailed captions is the klnd of thing that certainly could run in a community newspaper

BD, I'm very pleased to hear this, since that is EXACTLY what I was trying for as I shot it - I was mentally trying toframe shots that could run alongside an article. I'm thrilled that came across!

As for a scene-setter and closer... well, if I'd had any, I would've used 'em

Deal is that everybody arrived and left separately and as fast as they could since it was about 25 degrees and windy out !!!! But yeah, agreed - as a story, it needs those. Next time I do anything like this I'll figure out a way to make sure I get those shots one way or another............

Oh, one other thing: I shot this entire set with a 50 1.4. This is a lens I usually find too short, but in this context, I really REALLY wish I'd been using something wider - I felt much too far away from the action when I backed up enough to get what I wanted in the frame, and was sorry I wasn't using my 17-50 (which probably would have been fine at 2.8, but I thought I'd need faster glass, hence the choice to take the 50). Interesting to me, since I shoot more often with (and usually prefer) longer focal lengths, but on this occasion, they felt limiting instead of the opposite. Just an observation.

Girl Scout "giving project" (aka, trip to Target with a bunch of tweens)

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