This is a recurring column by Daily Item Creative Director Spenser Hasak, featuring and discussing his favorite photos of the month.
It would have been really easy for me to select five photos from the abundance of graduations I covered this season for my pics of the month. Commencement ceremonies are often long, hot days, with TONS of photos to go through and edit, but they’re often some of my favorite shots in June because I love capturing the moments of celebration and pride on each graduate’s face. However, with our special section for graduations and large galleries online, I opted for these instead:
1) I had just gotten back to the office after running around all morning photographing various assignments, and I was taking a minute to chill in my car with the AC blasting before heading in to edit my photos. I pulled open my phone, and the first thing I saw was a post saying a car had been reported floating in Marblehead’s Dolliber Cove. I raced over to see what I could find, and I was not disappointed. Sure enough, there was a car floating in the water up to its windows; my cameras immediately started firing. As I watched the Salem Police Dive Team work with Todisco Towing to get the car out, I noticed something funny. All of a sudden, this tiny road on the far edge of Marblehead was on everyone’s “way home” for the day. Honestly, this whole story could have covered my photos of the month. Between the dive team pushing/guiding the car out, to the crowd gathered to speculate about how it got there, to the giant Todisco crane lifting the Kia over the rock wall, everything about the story was visually interesting.
2) I want to stress that no animal handlers were harmed in the making of this image. In fact, it seemed like Phoenix, a South American boa constrictor, just really liked handler Matthew Thompson. Thompson put on a very informative show at Peabody Institute Library earlier this month, and I always enjoy learning facts about the animals when I get to cover shows like this. I was drawn to this image simply because without the story to pair with it, it seems much more hair raising than it actually is. I particularly liked how Thompson’s glasses were knocked askew by Phoenix as she wrapped around him.
3) Photo number three brings us to Lynn’s Fifth Grade Track & Field Championships. I loved the seriousness that all these students had when competing in their respective races. It was clear that I was documenting some of Lynn’s future track and field athletes when they reached high school. I had positioned myself right at the finish for the boys 200m dash, simply hoping to get the winner of the race. I got that shot, but as I looked up from my viewfinder, I saw that there was a much closer race about to reach me. It was a true photo finish as Sisson School’s Junior Diaz, left, and Tracy School’s Alexis Lopez crossed the line in unison, with Lopez winning out by a hair. Yet another example of being ready to expect the unexpected at a moment’s notice.
4) I was driving down Lynn Shore Drive, admiring the picture-perfect blue sky and white clouds when some motion caught my eye. A gentleman was playing fetch with his dog, and the damp sand was creating a lovely reflection of them and the blue sky. “I have to try and capture this,” I thought to myself. Approaching strangers while being 6’2” and often having two cameras hanging from my shoulders is still a weird thing for me 10 years into this job. I truly never know how someone is going to react when I start chatting with them. But Phil Howland and his dog, Laya, couldn’t have been friendlier. I spent a few minutes with Howland, getting to know him and admiring Laya’s fetching ability, and made a few photos. This image won me over. The repeating diagonal lines from the clouds, Howland’s arm, the frisbee, and especially Laya’s athletic launch, paired perfectly with how well Howland coordinated with the sky behind him. It was the exact image I was hoping for.
5) I found myself in Lynn Woods’ newly restored Rose Garden for a ribbon cutting ceremony a few weeks ago. Man was it hot; it felt like the heat and humidity had just parked itself right in that sunny corner of the woods. I was crouched down taking photos of the speakers while trying to incorporate some greenery in the foreground when I noticed this busy bee in its own little world, seemingly completely unaware of the large crowd of people gathered around or the sweltering heat. This frame felt like a quiet break from the heat and captured the efforts the volunteers went through to bring the beauty of the garden back to life.
