Third Draft: Stephens Lake Park – A Green Oasis on Broadway

While I was “officially” finished with my contribution to the class’ Broadway project on Wednesday when I turned into my professor, David Rees, a disc with my “second draft” of the video, I was still not quite satisfied with it. The timing of a few things was still off.

On Thursday, I posted another version of the video, and received some more feedback from it both in person and through a comment on the post, and took those into consideration. I was also unhappy with the color of certain clips in the video, and adjusted those within Adobe Premiere. Finally, I went back to Stephens Lake Park for one more “walk around,” which was also my last opportunity to experiment with the Canon 35mm f/1.4L lens. The result is a little tighter, with better matching between audio and visual components.

I consider this a finished piece, but am still more than happy to hear comments and suggestions.

Stephens Lake Park: A Green Oasis on Broadway

Stephens Lake Park: A Green Oasis on Broadway from David Kennedy on Vimeo.

In late March, I posted a “draft” of my contribution to my Picture Story class’ project on Broadway, one of the main arteries of Columbia, Mo., which was a “think piece” about Stephens Lake Park.

This Monday, I had the opportunity to sit down with Steve Saitta, Parks Development Superintendent for the city of Columbia, and ask his thoughts about the relevance of Stephens Lake Park for the community, and the significance of the park’s location on Broadway.

I believe this to be a significant improvement upon my original idea, and I hope you’ll agree. Comments and criticism always welcome!

Broadway Update: Stephens Lake Take Two

Walking the dogs into the sunset
Walking the dogs into the sunset, Stephens Lake Park, Columbia, Mo. | Canon 5D Mk. II and Voigtlander 40mm f/2 Ultron lens; exposed 1/8000 sec. @ f/2, ISO 200.

On Thursday afternoon I headed back to Stephens Lake Park to continue “note taking” for an essay on the park that is right off of Broadway, yet feels almost like you’re immersed in nature in the middle of Columbia, Missouri.  I saw almost because the illusion fades when your boot gets stuck on the landscape fabric that’s underneath all of the pebbles on the side of the waterfalls…yeah, those were man-made.

Broadway Project – Stephens Lake “Notes”

Sedges near Stephens Lake
Sedges near Stephens Lake | Canon 5D Mk. II and 16-35mm f/2.8L II lens @ 16mm; exposed 1/60 sec. @ f/9, ISO 800.

On Tuesday I made my way over to Stephens Lake Park on East Broadway and took some visual “notes” while I walked the loop along the lake a couple of times.  A lot of people were walking their dogs, others were power-walking, some jogging, and some people were just playing with their kids, teaching them to cast stones.

On review of the photos, one thing that I was astonished to find was sensor dust!  I’m so accustomed to using the 5D Mark II without any dust whatsoever!  So, I cleaned it last evening; I’ve owned the camera for fourteen months, and this was only about the fifth time that I’ve cleaned its sensor.

I’ll be going back soon, but for now, I’ve posted some of the “details,” including the most successful image (above).