SoKy Marketplace

Hello and welcome to my blog. I’ll be posting I guess what you could call case studies here, where I write a bit about assignments to go a little deeper than a social media post. Back in 2009 before Instagram I was required to have a blog for class where I would post photos taken for class with no context or words or anything, and I would pour over the analytics dreaming of being discovered whenever I saw a view from New York City. The internet was different then.

Anyway these photos are from an assignment for SoKy Marketplace, two hours of photographing vendors and shoppers enjoying a beautiful late summer evening. I photographed a lot of assignments like this back when I worked for the newspaper, and my approach was similar except now I could ask people to smile or laugh sometimes. That would be strictly forbidden for the journalism world. They take that aspect of ethics very seriously.

I’ll post my favorites in chronological order, starting with this jewelry vendor with a nice soft smile. She’s in the middle of the pavilion so the light is nice and soft, and the out of focus jewelry stand is giving a little bokeh.

Photographing strangers eating is always difficult. Food is such a big part of these events but both food and eating are much more attractive in posed and controlled situations. Understandably people also don’t like being interrupted as they’re about to eat. Some people in my life are downright dangerous to approach in such a situation. But I bravely asked these folks to laugh like they were having a great time and boy did they come through. Lovely smiles all around, this is my favorite food truck related photo I’ve ever taken. That’s not an especially long list, but it is a list.

I usually don’t like it when people mug for the camera but I’m making an exception here. This little girl was ready for the camera, plus the beer cup had the Fountain Row logo perfectly centered. The client also wanted to highlight the band and bounce slide, so her cute smile tied together a few elements I was looking for.

There was a time in my photographic career where a nice patch of light like this could throw off an entire assignment. Like a cat with a laser pointer I would abandon the task at hand to wait for someone to enter it. But now over a decade later I can change exposures must faster and keep one eye on the light patch and the other on the expressions of the other people around me.

Thrifting goths are the backbone of the American economy. The presidential debate was last night and neither candidate mentioned thrifting goths, and that’s how you know the candidates are out of touch.

Dogs and candles are the backbone of any successful outdoor marketplace. As you can see here, SoKy Marketplace is thriving.

Shopping is 90% just looking at stuff, so to make that more interesting I let the sunset do some heavy lifting here.

Lastly, a family getting ice cream after dusk. With sprinkles for extra Americana. Thanks for looking folks.