Photo of the Week #224

It’s always a pleasure to return to Highbridge Voices in the Bronx to take new photos of students fully immersed in sharpening their music and academic skills. The non-profit organization, founded in 1998, provides voice and music theory training, academic tutoring and recreation after school for students in grades four through twelve. The images I captured on Tuesday and Wednesday will be used on the Highbridge Voices website, in printed programs, and as decor in the facility itself. While most of the photos I took show the kids faces, the abstract nature of the one below will make it useful to the organization for years to come. To see pics of the kids performing on stage, be sure to check out my blog post highlighting the Highbridge Voices 2014 Benefit Concert.

Photo tech specs: Canon 5D Mark III camera, Sigma 50mm f1.4 Art lens @ f1.6, 1/80th, ISO 200.

Why did I shoot at a relatively slow shutter speed? Not for lack of light, but because I wanted to avoid the mixed white balance caused by the rapid flickering of non-tungsten artificial lighting like fluorescent, mercury-vapor or sodium-vapor. The next time you encounter an odd mixed white balance gradient within a frame or from shot to shot, try slowing your shutter speed. Read more about this phenomenon on the Canon blog.

October 14, 2014: A student looks over sheet music as he receives individual voice instruction at Highbridge Voices in the Bronx.