Blog Forum VI

The city I want to photograph for my "hometown" is our state capital Salem.
A news/feature photo I hope to capture is the Saturday Market, where a good part of the community  spends their morning in search of fresh veggies and fruits, plants, woodworking, jewelry, baked goods, art/craft goodies and many more.
Salem has a wonderful park, The Riverfront, a large park with a playground, a carousel and gift shop, and a great bike/walk path. This park hosts a lot of outdoor concerts and events, along with outdoor evening summer movies. A great new addition to the park is a pedestrian bridge over the willamette river- what I hope to capture in an evening sunset.
An environmental photo will be the most challenging for me, as I'd like to capture something that speaks 'Salem', also this involves shooting a person, which is still a challenge I have yet to feel comfortable and confident in just yet. Something that would be absolutely amazing to capture would be someone in their office at the state capital, maybe even them on the steps heading up work; with the 'gold man' the background would be even better.

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A couple ideas of a photo story I have in mind are
A woman in her third trimester of pregnancy. I could photograph her at appointments, at home, her daily errands. If she has other children I hope to show how it is to take care of her children and herself/unborn baby; what it's like to cook dinner with kids running around, what its like to relax in a nice hot bath after the kiddos are asleep. I'm involved in many local mom groups in my community and I'm sure writing a Facebook post about myself and my assignment I will get a few people willing.
If I don't have anyone reach out-
Salem's homeless community is large and always a topic of conversation. Taking photographs of women and men who don't have a stable place to rest their head- where they spend their time, what they do doing during the day and the struggles of pan-handling. Downtown homes the majority of the homeless in Salem. The bus station, UGM of Salem homeless shelter, and street corners is where I can find people to talk to and photograph. A good time to catch these images would be int he evening, when the line starts to form at the shelter door for the 'first come first serve' evening beds. It's unfortunate how many men and women have makeshift beds and huts on the sidewalks and alleys downtown to spend their day and night, no time is a wrong time to get pictures of them.
Working around my family life and school will be the only arrangements I will really need to make for an extended assignment like this.