Capaha Park Lagoon

Couple at Capaha Park Lagoon c 1967This is one of those “almost” photos that came close to working, but had some flaws that kept it from being really nice. (You can click on the photos to make them larger.)

You shoot a silhouette by having a strong backlight and underexposing the foreground until you are essentially left with a photo of a shadow. It works only if the background is plain, however.

I like the moment with the girl’s leg caught in flight and the fingers just barely touching, but there isn’t enough separation between the running figures and the background. The guy’s legs and head, in particular, get lost in the shadows.

Capaha Park ice

Capaha Park Lagoon frozen Jan 1968This photo, which I’ve run before, is more appropriate to the weather Cape has been having, although it’s a much warmer winter so far than what we had when the lagoon froze over in January 1968.

8 Replies to “Capaha Park Lagoon”

  1. Ken, Ken, Ken!

    We don’t leave black film edges around our decisive moment photos anymore. Crop. Crop. Crop.

    There is a beautiful photo in there.

    The moment is pure. You were there. You captured it.

    ART!!!!

    1. Bob,

      I looked hard at cropping for her leg and the outstretched hands, but the negative was really ugly. I bet I spotted out 700 dust specks. It was a marginal photo from a technical standpoint. It’s amazing how a scanned frame will yield something that you could never print on paper. At least, I couldn’t. I didn’t have the patience to spend that much time in the darkroom.

  2. Ice skating on the lagoon is one of my cherished memories. The city would deliver a pile of wood for a bonfire so we could warm ourselves. I still have my skates. Thanks for the images that allow a trip back in time.

    1. Could you imagine the city leaving wood for a bonfire these days? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if that was still possible? Along with it, the sense of community it would bring! …Silly notions, I know.

  3. Yes, it is cold here in Cape…I will check out the lagoon today to see if it is frozen over. Bob Young (Class of 66) was the only guy or gal I knew that had ice skates in those days. The rest of us just took a big run and would slide out to one of the islands and then run and slide back. Bob’s family was from Canada or something and had skates the rest of us only shoe
    leather…

  4. I took a black & white photography class at SEMO twenty years ago, I had many of those “almost” photos. I have been in that dark room for too many hours trying to turn “almost” into “the one.” Thank you for sharing this one anyway.

    I love the emotion a photo like this envokes. Happiness, excitement, fun, a great desire to share whatever she is running toward with this person of which she certainly deems most important.

    The bare feet & sun shining behind them tell me it was just warm enough; spring? autumn? Crazy-warm Southeast Missouri December weather?
    Love these photos.

    I too have ice skates tucked away, fond memories tucked away with them, both of which are certain to be left dangling by the laces to remind me of my youth & simpler times as I pass.

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