Win an AR-15 at the Cumming County Fair!

Only in the USA.

I wonder what my friends who live in other countries would think of this prize at one of our County Fairs in the state of Georgia. I imagine this would be shocking to most of the rest of the world.

Georgia is a Constitutional Carry state -- which means residents may carry handguns, concealed, or openly carried, without a permit. Guns may be purchased without registration or licensing. 

We live in a gun culture, which is very different from most other countries. About 1 in 3 Americans own firearms. In general, gun ownership has been normalized, especially in the South and in more rural regions of the country. 

Part of the ethos for many Americans is the belief that personal ownership of guns is a counterbalance to oppression and allows for self determination and self protection. Of course there are widely polarized views on this subject. 

We also need to live with the dissonant fact that the country with the highest number of guns per capita also has, by far, the highest firearm homicide and suicide rates in the developed world. 

Only in America can you enter a raffle at the fair for an AR-15.

One of my personal projects is to explore what it means to be “an American” by visiting the county fairs (and the State Fair) of Georgia.

To date I have visited 16 fairs and have several related projects in the works. 

Some of my customers/subjects have loved the energy and unique look of the frozen hair technique. Here are a few samples:

One of the most important ways to develop photographic skills is called “goofing around.” To learn the frozen hair technique I practiced with some high school thespians. After finishing the headshots for their show, the ones who were interested participated in the experimentation. They flung their hair in various directions and we froze the motion with studio strobes.

People have been fascinated with the results, and I’ve had a lot of questions as to how to do this without motion blur. Completely frozen can look almost architectural. Adding a hint of motion can increase the sense of energy, but it’s easy to overdo it. This example seems to be a good balance:

If you are interested in trying this, here are a few tips:

1. In studio, motion freezing has nothing to do with shutter speed. The lights (strobes) freeze the motion. 

2. If you remove all the ambient light, the exposure comes only from the strobes. To eliminate ambient light in this case, we set up backstage, lights off, in-between two black curtains. (Or for my theater folks: they flew in two black velvet legs.) 

3. So without ambient light, how do you see? There are modeling lights on the strobes, which are constant lights that turn off milliseconds before the strobe fires so they don’t affect the exposure. However, they provide enough light to visualize the shot, set focus, and move around safely. 

4. To freeze motion, you want the shortest flash duration possible. The most misunderstood thing about strobes is: some lights get shorter duration with morepower, some lights get shorter duration with less power. You need to know the technical specs of your specific gear. In this case Elinchrom BRX250 monoblocks had a duration of 1/2700 second at full power. 

5. Large light modifiers create a soft light, so a 3’X5’ softbox, or 53” Octobox are a good key light, with a white reflector for fill and a gridded strip box for a hair light (metered about a stop below the key light.)

6. Once the power is set on the lights, use a light meter to adjust your camera settings. The shutter speed needs to be just below the camera sync speed and the ISO and f/stops are the final variable. The reason to adjust the camera, rather than the power of the lights, is that the flash duration is the most important variable, if the goal is to avoid motion blur. 

7. For best results with your subjects, have them lean forward, for instance, with their hair hanging down and then in a big motion, and slower than expected, fling their hair up. You can try it with different directions. Yes, you will need to get the hang of it with each person. If you do it too fast, you might get this:

Or with any luck you might get something like these:

Good luck! 

On July 4th, 2017, after the Dunwoody 4th of July parade, a group of about 75 people took the oath to become new American citizens. This was the last time new citizens were sworn in after the Dunwoody parade; I hope the USCIS will continue this inspiring tradition in the future.

I’m a romantic about the idea of the American dream — that anyone can come here and be successful through hard work and determination. One of the greatest strengths of this country is that we have attracted people from all over the world to join us. Some were escaping hardship, others moving towards opportunity and sometimes both were true. What they all have in common is the drive and grit to strike out and search for a new life.

Historically, people speak of the “American melting pot” but that implied homogeneity does not reflect our country’s true nature. Perhaps as the historian Carl Degler said, we are more like a salad bowl. People maintain some sense of their original culture while still being part of a unified American society.

Who knows what these new citizens went through to get here, but I imagine these people saw the United States as a “beacon of hope” and are proud to be new Americans. From them comes a more inclusive democracy and the ongoing strength of our nation.