by Josh Biggs

I don’t ever remember having as much fun as these kids during prom.

Flagstaff High School hosted a special needs prom event in preparation for FHS’s prom a couple weeks ago. Volunteers helped the kids (and I say this loosely, as some of them were of legal drinking age) get ready for the dance, and served a dinner in the food services classroom at the school. The only snag was when the limos forgot to show up to drive the kids to the dance.

Still, they were the first ones out on the dancefloor, leading the charge.

One of the difficult parts of it was writing captions on the aftermath of the event. The word “special” seems to get bandied about a lot. We were doing “special” coverage  on a “special” event for “special needs” kids. We really need to come up for a better, but more usable word for this kind of thing, because it starts to get a little tiresome. The word has worn out its welcome, as far as I’m concerned.

That said, I had a great time hanging out with these kids (and adults), and I hope we can do more special stories like it the future.

by Josh Biggs

I felt like I was in the middle of some atari-age video game trying to take pictures of kids from the DeMiguel Elementary School Skateboard club while they were skating at Foxglenn Park.

The kids were fast, and I wasn’t moving.

I almost got hit several times - I was too busy framing up pictures to jump out of the way of zooming fifth graders. I looked around and I was the only one not wearing a helmet. Photographers in Iraq and Afghanistan have got nothing on me. Foxglenn is a dangerzone of its own.

by Josh Biggs
Mid-day in June or May in Flagstaff presents some of the worst light for shooting. Harsh shadows under the eyes, under the noses, makes everyone look like a raccoon. Shooting with flash helps, but with moving subjects, sometimes the flash doesn’t recharge in time to give enough power to light subjects how you want, when they pass through composition you want. So between charges, if you pull the trigger, the flash gives kind of a half hearted pop, telling you that you jumped the gun.

So, I’m an impatient person. I think that I’ve been rendered that way from trying to shoot hundreds of moments that disappeared before my eyes. And so when I see it in the viewfinder, I try to grab it. I usually don’t miss moments, my flash often does.
I did that here.

And the photo suffers  for it. The flash put out a little bit of light, but not what I asked it to. But the composition was what I wanted, so I shot.

The camera was willing.. but the flash was weak…

by Josh Biggs

By last count, I’ve shot 16 graduation ceremonies since I started shooting at the Daily Sun. The speakers seem to speak longer, the photographable moments seem to happen quicker, and I’m really trying to figure out if I am getting any better at it.

I will say that they don’t confuse me with the “official” photographer of the event anymore. For awhile the organizers of the event and the people at the dome kept telling me where I could stand to shoot the posed picture of each graduate after they graduate. Having worked doing that kind of photography on occasion, I can attest to the fact that us photojournalists get to walk on a longer leash. Just lucky, I guess.

High School is next. Same venue, younger kids, different colors.

by Josh Biggs

A small fire outside Pine Canyon sent a message that is time to turn the scanner on, do my once-yearly washing of my fire gear, and scan the horizon. Yep, fire season is upon us.

On another note, one of the firefighters told me they had to drive fire trucks across the golf course to get to a forest road that accessed the fire. Apparently they might have even interrupted someone’s golf game. That was the photo that I missed!