Don Seabrook | Best images from April

A couple years out of college and almost 40 years ago, I thought it would be interesting to document a day in the life of an Apple Blossom queen from getting up in the morning to going to bed at night. I felt like the queen’s activities were covered by The Wenatchee World but its readers didn’t have a good insight to who this person really was.

That first queen was Darci Henke, now Darci Christoferson, festival administrator. She and her mother allowed me access to her whole day. Her busy schedule, as a queen, as a student, and person maintaining friendships, was eye opening for me and hopefully for our subscribers.

The approach has remained close to the same although some queens and their families are not as open with their private lives. Queen Scarlette Cron and her family allowed me into their lives and I was able to document what I think is one of her typical days as a queen.

I went to the East Wenatchee library’s spring break program where children and adults built structures with small wood blocks. Melissa O’Dell began building a tower, climbing onto a chair as it stretched beyond her height. I positioned myself to capture the reactions of her and other people at her table, then waited for the inevitable.

I wrote about this image in an earlier Living Images post. It’s a favorite of mine because it’s a different look at the sport of hockey and the Wenatchee Wild.

Driving around the valley, I noticed that fall leaves were still on some varieties of fruit and yard trees. I wondered about the effects this would have on this year’s fruit and stopped by a crew pruning trees. The foreman mentioned some problems that could develop with the inability to prune effectively and also with spraying.

This tight shot of Kai Mueller playing a tennis match is mostly a matter of taking a bunch of photographs as he returned shot after shot. I like how his face is partially seen through his racket yet the racket doesn’t get in the way of a clear image of him.

Working in my yard on Sunday, April 16, I heard quite a few sirens and found out there was a fire at Kenroy Elementary School. I was able to get there as firefighters were trying to gain access to the attic.

For a story on Alatheia’s fundraising attempts to relocate their therapy business, I arranged with the owner to photograph a couple of clients during their sessions. I was impressed with the connection the volunteers had with them. When Martin Garibay successfully put rings on a post, I concentrated on framing his face and was blessed to also capture the smiling face of a volunteer in the frame.

I’m normally not a fan of portraits in newspapers because I think their purpose in story telling is limited to what a person looks like. Photographing Dario Rodriguez painting a mural was hard because he wears a respirator to keep paint fumes at bay. I decided that I needed to have an image of Dario without his respirator so had him stop painting and positioned him between the unfinished painting of a skateboarder and Jesus. I think this goes beyond showing Dario’s face by including him with two of his subjects.

Whenever we play a part in moving our subjects, we are intentional in making sure a reader will know when it’s been done – in this case having him look straight into the camera.

For a different perspective on the Wenatchee Wild’s playoff game on April 18, I climbed up to the rafters of the Town Toyota Center and shot down on the action. I like this perspective as Mario Gasparini took a shot on goal.

The next night, I was in my normal spot shooting hockey – between the benches without glass between myself and the game. I keep a camera with wide angle lens around my neck for these kind of action photographs when the players skate close to my position. I like this photograph because it puts the viewer in the action.

I got a call about the dragon for Shrek the Musical being moved by the stage crew from the museum to the Performing Arts Center. I tried to keep pace from across the streets, looking for a simple background. When I saw the sun hitting the bricks on a church, I knew there would be an interesting shadow too and waited for the moving crew to come by.

Looking for a photograph on April 26, a spotted Jesse Mauch’s head poke through a roof a block away from where I was driving. Then I saw the window in front of the building and waited for him to lift up his nailing gun to capture this image.

I had to arrive late to Wenatchee Valley College’s baseball game, getting there in the sixth inning. The most striking thing I saw on the scoreboard was the large amount of errors the Knights were making in the game. When the catcher tripped over the pitcher to make a late throw to first base I thought I had the story-telling photograph.