Photo Shoot: Attention to Detail

It is that time of year again, even a long cold month of April could not prevent the inevitable. Yes, it is time for the first lawn mowing of the season. If mowers had license plates, mine would have an antique plate. It is part of my inheritance, a 30-plus-year-old Toro self-propelled model, lovingly maintained for 25 of those years by my father. He was my mowing mentor.

Despite a yard filled with precisely spaced shrubs and having to weave around them, mowing in straight lines was expected. That was the primary rule. But after the mower cooled down, there were more lessons to be learned, the top deck was swept off and the discharge chute was scraped free of any wet matted down grass. Then the tank was filled, oil level checked, job finally done.

There were a lot of details to be learned for such a routine task. I am not sure how old I was for that first outing with the lawn mower. But the yard care apprenticeship didn’t end with high school graduation. Any visit to the homestead usually involved mowing, fertilizing and a lengthy raking season in fall. Once all the leaves were gone, a ceremonial last mow to drain out most of the gas, followed by a capful of fuel stabilizer.

Firing up the Toro for the first-time last week, started on the third pull, I realized how that early attention to small details was the perfect training for any career, but especially photojournalism.

Writer James McBride says, “As a journalist, the details always tell the story.” A good photo essay will include at least one “detail” image. This is often a close-up image taking the viewer’s eye for a look at some small detail that helps tell the story. Looking for good detail shots is much like finding the right puzzle piece. You know it is there somewhere in the big pile of look alike shapes, but only attention to small details helps locate it.

Even when staying within the lines, crisscrossing the yard, my eye is looking for the details as the old four-cycle engine purrs along. You never know what might hop up.

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