Behind the picture (Mar. 9/14)

john king photo
Sometimes the simplest photo requires weeks of planning for five minutes of perfect light.

In preparing a feature story on an application to build a giant copper and gold mine that has sparked much debate in Kamloops, B.C., I spent several months looking at how residents of this city access their potable water. During this time, I research and talked with local people about the quality of drinking water in Kamloops, what steps the city has taken in the past to ensure a safe supply of drinking water to residents, and how the municipality's water filtration plant works. 

Over the course of these weeks, I searched and searched for a photo to place in the header portion of my Kamloops water project, which will act as supplement to the mining story. At first, I used a photo I took on my iPhone of a pond up in an area known as Peterson Creek. Then I found a shot by the photographer David Wise, but after placing this photo and considering it, I decided I wanted my own photo.

It's been a warm late winter, with days peaking at 10 Celsius or more, and often a warm wind instead of that cold one associated with Canadian deep freeze winters. I had started to take notice when the sun was rising, which has been between 6-7 a.m., and of course, steadily getting earlier. Looking at my other shots for the project, I decided I wanted a pre-sunrise photo to bring out the deep blues in the sky just before dawn. So I woke up a 3 a.m. to clear out the clutter in my "To Do List," and prepared for the early start down at the South Thompson River.

It turned out that clouds created the pre-sunrise type situation I was looking for, and made it too dark to photograph just at sunrise, so I waited a little longer before heading out. While I didn't know the exact location of the water intake along the river, I assumed it would be near the Kamloops Centre for Water Quality. So I headed down that way a little later because clouds were obscuring the sun. Once I reached the area, I parked in a public parking lot and saw that I was just downwind of the water intake, facing the sunrise. 

I walked a couple blocks up to the other side of the water intake so that I may take a photo with the sun shining in the direction of the subject matter. When I reached a side road that led to a small beach section in between two private residences, I started to take shots while the sun was obscured by the clouds. It created for an interesting composition because the tide was low, so it revealed the various things that are mostly underwater in summer. 


What is photo gazetteer?

The story behind the photograph is just as important as the photograph itself. This is a blog that will look at the stories behind the photographs shaping our world, everything from the small and mundane, to the big and spectacular. Feel free to comment on photos and share your own.

This blog is managed by designer and journalism student John King