KAMLOOPS B.C. — A child dressed as a zombie for the Kamloops Zombie Walk makes a scary face at two people sipping on espresso in Zack’s Coffee on Saturday, Oct. 28, 2018.

I caught the Kamloops Zombie Walk just as it started.

Going in I knew I was going to make a photo story, therefore I would need a variety of shots. Once I got some close-ups that I wanted, I needed to capture some story-telling moments.

So just as I started to feel like my photos were getting to be same-y, I broke away from the group and went ahead. My eyes always go up to see if I can get a shot from a different angle.

Instead I passed by Zack’s Coffee and saw some great, big, glass windows with a row of patrons who were about to watch the march go by. I knew this place from a previous story, so going in with my camera was a little more comfortable than it would have been otherwise.

Nobody bothered me as I put the DSLR to my face and waited for the zombies to come.

I had enough time to adjust my camera settings so that the background wasn’t completely blown out, but the figures in the window would still be a little dark. I knew I would have to do some post-production work on these shots because using the flash would just make a reflection and might disturb the people in the cafe. At any moment the staff could have come kicked me out.

But they didn’t.

I loved this moment because the coffee cups suggest a backstory. I did not take a second to talk to them (I should have) so I don’t know if they’re a couple, but I know they had been sitting there sipping coffees when the zombie hoard walked by.

Then I get a kick out of the guy taking a photo of the kid with his phone, definitely dates the photo and makes me wonder what happened to this person’s photo of this moment. I wonder if the zombie’s face just looked like a silhouette?

In Photoshop I bumped up the levels on the guy’s phone just to see. It does look a little dark but my photo was dark before processing too.

Self-critique

There’s a lot going on in the background that makes the photo distracting. There is also something weird about the colours. I bumped up the vibrance by +8, and yet you still see this weird blue-ness on the guy’s white hoodie sleeve. The red in the girl’s hair also seems to be glowing. I think this photo suggests that I need to work on my photo editing techniques, but I do like the story of this moment.

What do you think? Do you have any tips or suggestions? If so leave a comment below or send me a message via the contact page.