Black Friday Shopping

I spent a large portion of my Black Friday hunting for shoppers, not deals. I had gotten a call from an editor at WHYY's Newsworks blog saying that they wanted to do a story on the busy shopping day. We quickly realized that while some neighborhoods felt the holiday rush, in other areas, this was not so much the case. We were hearing a lot of comments from people that they would be going to the mall or they knew people who were at the mall rather than a shopping district in Chestnut Hill, Roxborough, Germantown or Manyunk. It was a fun day though and I got some interesting images. Here are a few.

A young woman glances at the shoe selection in Rainbow on Chelten Ave. in Germantown.

Shoppers walking down Germantown Ave. in Chestnut Hill.

Gael Alvarez, 3, attempts to make a convincing argument for a toy car set to his mother Rachel in O'Doodles in Chestnut Hill.

Chrissy DiPaolo looks at her reflection in a nearby mirror in Nicole Miller in Manyunk. The designer store held a White Friday sale with some gowns in the low 100s.

Holiday shoppers crowd the aisles and check-out lines of Kohl's in Roxborough.

Kristy Tomlinson

Here is a photo of Kristy Tomlinson, a senior short-stop and third baseman at Franklin Towne Charter who recently signed a letter of intent with Holy Family University. Unfortunately we didn't have any file photos of Kristy in action from last season so we needed a posed shot. Luckily I absolutely love shooting sports portraits, especially outdoors and I had a few ideas for how I was going to shoot Kristy. Don't get me wrong, shooting a live game is a lot of fun and I love the energy you feel in a packed stadium, field or gym. But I love the chance to have more control over movement and play with lighting. By the way, Kristy was a great sport, as not all athletes are completely willing to run around and perform actions in super-slow motion while I shine a bright light in their face. I don't use anything too fancy; just a strobe, umbrella and a SC-28 cord. Anyway I was pretty excited with the results and I particularly love the blue hues in the photos.