Merry Christmas Johnstown!
Had a great time shooting Johnstown’s Christmas Parade the weekend before Thanksgiving. Could’ve used some snow, and the shots weren’t as good as they should have been, but, beyond that, the show went off, almost, without a hitch. And now I’ve got a whole other year to work on my low-light with subject-movement technique. The plan from the get-go was to shoot from above the crowd with the City Hall clock tower in the background, so I scoped out the area and determined that the brick planter in front of the Johnstown and Cambria County Convention and Visitor’s Bureau (”Flood’s over - come visit”), offered the best vantage point for parade photography, so off to the CVB I went. Upon entering, I was immediately charmed by the 3 gracious ladies who greeted and directed me to City Hall to obtain permission to set up on the planter.
With the help of a kind, but nameless, woman from the Community Development office, I tracked down Assistant City Manager Bruce Haselrig, who was very accomodating to my venture. He joined me on the City Hall steps while I told him of my plans, and then he contacted Public Safety to let them know I’d be lurking around the parade route.
Later that evening, I ran into friends Brian and Yvonne, who ran interference for me, helping to keep the guy in the green puffy coat from blocking all my shots. Brian videoed the parade, and I annoyed dozens of onlookers with my flash, while we all enjoyed hot chocolate courtesy of the CVB ladies. You can view Brian’s parade vids at the Johnstown Cafe. After the parade, I headed down to Central Park and got some very satisfying shots of the fountain and of Santa meeting the kids.
All-in-all, it was an enjoyable evening, but, I gotta tell ya, besides the quality of my photos, the only disappointment was Santa’s mode of transport. Maybe next year they can dump the hokey sleigh pulled by a van, and put the big guy on top of a ladder truck. S. Claus deserves at least that much.
You can find the complete Christmas Parade gallery here.
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