Fargo, North Dakota

Instead of searching through my photo archives to find suitable images for this week’s challenge, I decided to head out with my camera and practice with depth of field adjustments on my Nikon D7000. I headed to the north edge of Fargo and took a walk through Trollwood Park. The park, just under 30 acres in size and former home of the Trollwood Performing Arts School, lies along the Red River of the North. The school has moved to a new location, but signs of the school and memories of the summer musicals performed by the students in the community each year echoed in my mind as I walked through the park.

One of the remnants of the school that remains is a path paved with yellow brick. When I saw the pavers, I instantly gave this week’s challenge a new focus for me. Instead of concentrating on depth of field, I realized when I looked at the pavers how easy it is to focus on the detail and not be able to see the big picture. I submit for your approval (or not), my weekly challenge entry. Yes, I deserve to be disqualified in that my locus is not on depth of field but on detail. In the long run, it’s my blog and I will choose to modify my challenge entry. So sue me!

Looking at the pavers in the photo above, they seem to be a sidewalk run amok. Stand back, however, and look at the big picture.

The pattern becomes much clearer; the pavers form a stylized spelling of the word, “OZ”. Those familiar with L. Frank Baum’s book or the 1939 movie, “The Wizard of Oz” will immediately recognize the yellow brick road. A central location in the story, the road was a feature needed for the first production of the performing arts school which opened in 1978.

I conclude my submission with a photo taken at the location of the new Trollwood Performing Arts School. In homage to the original Yellow Brick Road, the walk between the administration building and amphitheater was designed using yellow brick pavers. The school’s first production on the new site in 2009 was, most appropriately, The Wiz.

John Steiner

P.S. I did practice with my camera and completed several pairs of shots featuring depth of field changes. You might just see some of those photos in a second entry this week.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Focus