Eloquation

Jim Goldstein, who is not only a fantastic photographer but an excellent blogger, recently posted a photo project on his site asking photographers to choose their favorite photo and write the background story behind the shot:

One of the great things about photography is that there are often some great hidden background stories. Seldom are they ever heard though unless you’re a close friend of the photographer.

I’ve known about the project for a little while, but I haven’t gotten around to writing up my story for one simple reason: I didn’t know what photo to pick. I’m not much of a photographer, despite the 2,000 or so photographs in my Flickr photostream. I have some indications as to what other people consider as my best photos, but I had to think long and hard to figure out which exactly would be my favorite photo. Not my best, but my favorite.

I’m still not sure I made the right choice, but it’s the right choice for me right now. But here goes.

I took this shot with my old camera — a simple five-year-old BenQ point-and-shoot before I even knew what shutter speed was — and while it’s not the most technically sound photo I’ve ever taken, it resonates with me very closely.

Every summer, from the ages of 11-15, I bought a season pass to Canada’s Wonderland. For five straight summers, I would spend my summer days (when I wasn’t working, of course: I took academic enrichment classes during the summers of my youth) hanging out with friends, living out summer love (ah, teenage heartbreak), eating overpriced food, carrying out pranks (that got us kicked out of the park a few times), and riding the roller coasters in the July and August sun.

These days, I don’t get out to Wonderland all too often. When I hit sixteen and started spending my summers working part-time jobs in order to earn money for school and life, I stopped buying season passes and stopped going to Wonderland almost entirely. One day in August 2005, however, I had the chance to visit the theme park with my coworkers. It was then that I became intensely enthralled with Psyclone, a simple-yet-exhilarating thrill ride. I knew at once that I wanted a photo of the ride, so I pulled out my camera and snapped a shot while the contraption was in mid-swing. The result was the photo above.

Not only does this photo reflect a stroke of luck that the only photo I happened to take of the ride that afternoon came out to be somewhat decent, but it is a reflection of the many summers of my youth where I stared up at these rides alongside best friends, schoolyard crushes, and complete strangers while I waited in line to have my own chance to soar.