A New Mural Goes Up In Lafayette

Last week we were walking to dinner downtown when I saw a nice wall with a lift in front of it with Montana cans loaded onto it. I was instantly excited for the possibility of what could be going up there. That night I had trouble sleeping wondering what was going up? Did I know the artist that was working on it? Of course I happened by the site the next day and met Zach Curtis who had been commissioned by the local chapter of the Daughters Of The American Revolution to put up a mural of famous people who have visited Lafayette. I could not have been more excited for what was to come. If you know me then you know that I love history, and Lincoln and Kennedy were two figures that I have read a lot on over the years. Overnight I had a fun photograph project to work on and also one that would be fun to learn more about. I don’t get to photograph things like this all of the time. I have now done it three times in the past year. It really is fun to watch these walls come to life.

A Good Photo On Day One

A project like this is fun, but you also want to make good photos for the artist. On day one I really didn’t know Zach that well. I was really trying to stay out of his way both with my actions, but also not to distract him too much. Here he was sitting on the lift sketching the top of Lincoln and it was a good chance to make a photo. It might be one of my favorites from the week, and I made it on day one.

The Frederick Douglas Portion Of The Mural

I admittedly don’t know as much about Frederick Douglas as I should. His story seems fascinating though so maybe it is time to dig a little deeper and find out more about him. What I did find out though was on one of his trips to Lafayette he stopped just around the corner at the Bethel AME church to give a speech. That speech helped the church raise a ton of money in just one night.

Honest Abe On The Mural

The first thing that I saw coming together on the mural was the initial sketch of Abe. I thought I saw Abe in the raw sketch as I walked up. It was fun on the first day seeing that initial outline come to life a little more. Judging by the beard this was a portrait of Abe made near the end of his Presidency so the tired look in his eyes makes a ton of sense. One thing about all of these portraits in the mural is how Zach made their eyes realistic. As I was making my photos like the one above of Zach doing his thing my eye detect kept grabbing onto the mural. Lincoln spoke from his train to the citizens of Lafayette on his way from Illinois to the capitol for his inauguration. He would later pass through town on his way back to Springfield as his funeral train made is slow trek across the United States.

John F. Kennedy On The Mural

Probably the President that I have heard or read the most about is Kennedy. I have tons of books on him mostly inherited from my father. My father being a good Catholic in the 60’s loved Kennedy. As a kid a portrait that dad sketched always hung in the house. I have written papers for school on both his life and his tragic death. It was really neat to see the process behind this part of the mural. I have seen tons of sketches that my father did of Kennedy. As a kid I would try and do my own, but Kennedy had a hard face to draw. As you may know we are coming up on one year since my father passed. I have never wanted to pick up the phone and call him more than seeing this mural sketched out. Having it go up this month of all months almost seems like someone is talking to me.

How High Can My Monopod Reach?

On day one at the mural I realized that the size of the alley combined with everything around it would make this a hard mural to photograph from the ground. With that in mind I did something that I have wanted to do for a while. I purchased a drone. My last drone had an electrical fault over the Wabash and took a long ride on an ice pancake down the river. I like to think that it made it down to the Gulf Of Mexico now and is living a great life in good weather. My new drone came the next day and is a DJI Mini 4 Pro. It is almost 50 megapixels, and really is small and easy to move around. Once I had that drone everything changed. I still was finding ways to make photos on the ground, but I also was having some fun making photos from the air. Being able to make a photo from whatever angle I wanted to was a game changer. Most of my favorite photos from the past week came from the drone. The photo above of Zach preparing his signature in the upper corner would not have been possible without a drone. I don’t know how much use this thing will get. I have some ideas on how to use it for some of my regular projects. One thing that is certain though is that it will come out for all of my mural work. It gives me a ton of angles that I can’t get with my normal gear.

Working The Building In

This is a really cool building. The windows on the front of it looks awesome and are painted in a great way. I kept trying to find ways to work them into my photos. The photo above is a close up with one window in it. Showing a little of the scene around the mural really helps tell the story of the mural.

My Mural Kit

For 99.9% of this project I used three cameras and two lenses. Of course I have talked about the drone. It did a lot of the heavy lifting for me over the past week plus. For my ground work my kit was mostly the Sony A1 with the Sony 50-150mm lens on it and my Sony A7RIII with my Sony 16-35mm lens on it. This gave me great coverage for most of what I wanted to do. Before I had the drone when I needed to get way back to make photos I also was using my Sony 200-600mm lens for those photos. Right now I can’t imagine something that could give me better results than what I used here. Although now that I saw that my 12-14mm lens could be fun for photos like the one above. Alright I need another mural to photograph to try that out.

Over The Top

The new drone let me do something with the artist that I have wanted to do for a while now. I wanted to get above him to show the view down the mural. This one honestly could have been done by having over the roof, but the way up there could have been hard. It was just easier to fly the drone up there to make the photo. I like the first round of these, but you can always improve on a photo. I have some ideas that could make this even better.

The Finishing Touch

One the final day of the project there was only one thing left to do. Like every good artist Zach had to sign his work. The night before I came up with two photos to make of this. One was made on the lift with him, and this one was made with the drone. I made a few more that I came up with on the spot, but both of my ideas came out well and really showed what I wanted to show.

The Mural Dedication

The process of documenting the mural ends with the dedication ceremony. There were people there to cover the ceremony for various organizations. My goal during the ceremony was to show a little of it, but mostly focus on the crowd and Zach. With this photo I tried to put everything into one frame. I really like how this turned out. It was one last fun photo from a great week of making photos.

More Photos From The Week

I am really lucky to make sports photos for a living. It is what I have always wanted to do. At times though I feel burned out. I can feel like I am just living groundhog day doing the same thing over and over. I have found ways to get more creative and to break out of that rut. Having a project like this one to focus on for a week or so though gives me new ways to get creative and to try new things. It is a great way to recharge the batteries. I can’t just put the camera down to do that. I love photography too much for that. Something like this is just what is needed at times to challenge myself to be more creative. You can’t just make the same photo everyday. You have to think of new ways to photograph the artist. It is a great exercise to get more creative. Of course having the new drone made that task much easier. Below are a few bonus photos from the week that I really liked. You have already made it pretty far in this post by now. If you make it through all of these below then you deserve a badge.