Week 27 – Red, White, & Blue
I collected comic books for much of my youth, bagging and boarding until my freshman year in college. It was then I realized that the buck and a quarter I just forked over for a back issue of Alpha Flight featuring Wolverine might be better spent. For instance, I could be buying some of the worst pizza ever served in up-state New York at the Pakistani food truck that rolled up in front of our dorm after the dining hall closed. Also, having a large stack of X-Men Annuals in your dorm room doesn’t score as many points with 18-year-old co-eds as you would think.
My gateway comic was G.I. Joe, a series that, because of its publisher, gave me entry to the rest of the Marvel universe with Spiderman, Captain America, and Iron Man becoming my favorites in that order. I didn’t buy as many Cap comics as I did Spidey’s because Peter Parker’s insecurities and humor always struck more of a chord with me than did Cap’s straightforward earnestness. Spiderman was constantly full of doubts, but Steve Rogers was always 100% sure he was doing the right thing. To an average teenage boy, you can guess which storyline had deeper resonance.
With the recent resurgence of Marvel properties in the cinematic world (long being the red-headed stepchild to D.C.’s Batman and Superman) I’ve enjoyed re-discovering the world of comics with my oldest who, like his dad at that age, will devour any form of printed material put in front of him. Cap’s old fashioned wholesomeness still doesn’t quite connect with me, but I certainly can appreciate the need for someone who believes in what he’s doing with a conviction so strong he can wear a flag on his chest.
Photo Info
Likes
I like how I managed to get Cap and most of the comic title in focus, or at least enough that you get the idea of what I wanted to be sharp without straining yourself too much. I can’t take credit for it, but I love the retro graphic quality of the font on the comic title. The horizontal red, white, and blue stripes feel out-dated even for the publish date, August 1980. I think they’re appropriate for Cap who was always “not of his time.”
Dislikes
The focus is razor thin. It would have been nice to get more of the title in focus but I just couldn’t arrange it so that it was entirely in the plane and still looked interesting. I wish Cap was more dominant on the cover of the comic in the foreground, but of the issues I have left, this one was in the best shape. Dragon Man, besides being a lame villain, doesn’t do much for the color palette.
Technical Mumbo Jumbo
Softbox directly overhead with 430ex flash set to 1/16th power.
This is an entry for a 52 week photo project I’m participating in conjunction with several other members of the Lancaster County Photography Meetup Group. I’ll be posting the entries here with either an anecdote, challenges in creating the shot, successes, or frustrations with my week to week results.
- You can find out more about the project and see other participant’s photos here:
www.flickr.com/groups/lancaster-52-project - You can see my entries in the project as a set here:
www.flickr.com/photos/ranzino/sets/72157628691366537
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