Picture: Kids walking in an outdoor labyrinth, Briones Regional Park, Contra Costa County, California
This is the first time in more than 15 years I ever shot anything based on a standard want list photo request. Earlier this summer, a regional magazine had posted a request for various outdoor labyrinths. One of the locations they listed was my local regional park where I traditionally do my exercise hikes. I literally did a double take when I saw Briones on their list. My first thought was “What Labryinth?” I’d been hiking there for years, and very often on the exact trail, yet I’d never seen any labyrinth.
The magazine had a deadline only a few days from when the need was originally posted. So on a whim, before dropping my kids off for their summer day camp, I hauled them off for a quick discovery walk to find the Labyrinth. They definitely enjoyed their time navigating the intricately constructed pathway.
The only downers to this story: On the way back to my truck, we heard an older woman screaming in horror for help as she watch her dog get attacked by another dog, both of which were being run off-leash. I told the kids to stay put as I ran to help. The dogs got separated by the two owners, with the elderly lady getting a bit scratched up in the processes. The kids and I helped walk the shaken woman back to her car, where I called the ranger so she could file a report. It was a hard but good life lesson for the kids.
The other downer: my photo didn’t get selected for use by the magazine. However, I’m not too worried about that. I’ve always been a fairly strong proponent of photographers not doing work “on spec”, so I was pretty comfortable with the resulting kharma.
Great photo Gary. Too bad the magazine didn’t know what was best for them. I’ve shot on spec before if it was something I was planning on shooting regardless.