I was photographed yesterday by Jerry McCarthy from The Dallas Morning News for the feature article by David Flick.
I met Jerry outside the front gate of the Emanu-El Cemetery at 3430 Howell Street in Dallas. There are several small cemeteries in that same location. I had to call Jerry to see if he was lost. He was close.
The Dallas Morning News wanted to get me in action. I told them I needed to do retakes for Abraham Zapruder, the amateur filmmaker who filmed Kennedy’s assassination. The News agreed this would be a good photo opportunity. They did not want me to fake a photo shoot for the article.
One of my biggest problems when shooting in a cemetery is a funeral, or more precisely, people. I don’t want people in my shots and I don’t want to be disrespectful to them at their time of grief. Fortunately, I have never had to take photos anywhere near a funeral in progress.
Yesterday, I was pretty close to a funeral. So close that I could not get my car past the hearse and other vehicles. I had to ditch my ride on the far side of the mausoleum.
I had already photographed Mr. Zapruder and his wife last year. I found him and Judge Sarah Hughes on the same day. They are only a few miles apart.
Mr. Zapruder’s grave marker is buried next to a small tree. Last year it was only the size of a bush. This year the tree is about four feet tall. And as expected, the tree is casting a four o’clock shadow right on the Zapruders’ grave marker. Oh well, lets see how these photos come out.
I wanted to use a 400 ISO film, but I didn’t have any on hand. All I had was 125 PX, 100 TMAX, 160 NC and 800 NC. I selected the 160 NC.
Jerry started taking photos as soon as I started selecting film. He got everything form loading my Holga to shooting the grave marker to writing down the GPS coordinates.
Just as I was finishing, we were approached by a man in a suit. He said that we can not take pictures in the cemetery. Oops.
While I started apologizing, Jerry jumped right in and told the man he was from The Dallas Morning News. The man was very kind. We talked for about a minute. We told him who we were photographing. The man was a little surprised at our find. It appeared he did not know Mr. Zapruder was buried here.
And that’s one of the points of my project. Most people don’t know where any of these people are, living or deceased.
The man returned to the funeral and we took a few more shots. Jerry did some portrait shots of me. I tried my best to give a half smile. I was trying to strike a balance between nice smile and reverence for my surrounding.
Jerry and I chatted on the way back to the cars. I gave him the abbreviated version that I told Mr. Flick on Tuesday.
And that was that. I hope his photos make me look good. I really hate having my photo taken.
Article
I was told the article on my project could run as early as today. I did not see it. Maybe it will be in Sunday’s paper.