The Smooth Saturday Sunshine

Last week, I took the Rolleiflex to Washington Park.  It was a beautiful day, probably the first sunny day in a long time.  And I wanted to get some pictures of the park – maybe some tulips, if they were still there.  I packed a roll of Kodak Portra 160 VC into the Rollei, and off I went.

No luck on the tulips.  The tulips were already harvested for distribution to gardens throughout the Capital District.  I did see a few ducks that were trying to swim in a puddle.  Got a picture of that.

But while I photographed the ducks, I thought I heard the sound of bongos.

Bongos in the general direction of the tulip gardens.  Bongos that were beating out a sunshine summertime rhythm.  And I could make out, alongside the bongos, an acoustic guitar.

I was intrigued.

I followed the sound of the music, like a child following the Pied Piper of Hamelin.

Under the shade of a flowering tree, there was indeed a small circle of friends.  Two men were playing bongos; one was strumming a guitar, and a fourth person was dancing to the infectious music.

I had six shots left in the Rollei.  I needed to make them count.

So while they were jamming, I snapped a couple of shots.

“Wow,” the dancing girl said as she examined my camera.  “That’s a real old camera you’ve got there.”

Memo to self.  Shooting with a Rollei will get EVERYBODY’S attention.

I said that I enjoyed listening to their music, and the band and I struck up a conversation.

I asked for their names, in case I chose to run this photograph in my blog.  They obliged.  I was enjoying the summertime sounds of Chad Furman, Jake Gordon, Jason Bedard and Emerald Dahl.  They weren’t an organized band per se, they were just four friends who met up at the park and started playing.

I wasn’t sure how well the photographs would turn out while they were under the shade of a tree.  “Would it be all right if you guys moved over to the statue of Moses, and I photographed you there?”

“Sure,” they said, gathering up their musical instruments and personal paraphernalia.

The music started again.  The bongos and the guitar, blending in a rhythmic pulse.  A small crowd gathered.  Everybody had a good time.  The music was soothing and inspiring at the same time.

And I got this photo of the quartet performing and jamming and dancing by the statue of Moses.

And I thought to myself… This group needs a name.  If I’m going to run this photograph in any sort of competition, I can’t just call it “Four People Playing in the Park.”  That is about as boring as beige.

I looked at the finished photographs.  The foursome, performing in front of the Moses statue, gave off a vibe as if they were a 1980’s free spirit jam band.  Almost like one of those old 1960’s “sunshine pop” bands.

Hmm… Sunshine pop… on a Saturday…

And at that moment, I came up with a title for the group.

SMOOTH SATURDAY SUNSHINE.

I could see it now.  This is the kind of group that could have their hits on local radio – I can almost hear Boom Boom Brannigan announce them, as the intro to their song plays. “It’s another hit by the Smooth Saturday Sunshine, right here on AM 1540, WPTR.”

And just as a quickie goof, I mocked up the photo as if it were an advertisement in Billboard magazine.

As much as I would like to enter this picture in a competition, I can’t.  If this is supposed to be a “sunshine” photo, I need more blue sky and less white clouds.  And I probably should have used a faster film – the images are a little soft.  If you click on the picture, you can see a larger version of the artwork; it looks sharper, but I know I can do improve on this kind of shot.

So for now, I’m going to call this an experiment.  And maybe, just maybe, I can build on what I’ve learned from this experiment for a future photograph.

We shall see.