Faster than a Bunny Wabbit

Easter egg hunts...at first glance you think, ah yes, a nice easy assignment...cute kids searching for eggs, simple. Uh, not so much. Editors were asking for shots for the main paper, maybe four to five, and our special Bossier Voices section needed 15-20. Perhaps the only people who realize how fast these kids really are is a newspaper photographer. Add into the equation the separation of different age groups of kids into three segments and let them run free all at the same time, and getting those "simple, cute kiddie shots" suddenly ain't so easy. As soon as they turn the kids loose, they scatter in all directions at top speed in search of the little plastic eggs filled with candy treasures.Getting about 25 shots is not a big deal for us. We easily return from most assignments with plenty, especially in this modern age of the internet and online photo galleries. But producing that many in about a five minute timespan proved to be a bit of a challenge. I spent much of my time shooting Hail Marys holding the camera down low at kid-level (we call it a Hail Mary basically because we hold the camera at an angle where we can't see through the viewfinder, and just hope for the best). No time to get down on the ground to shoot. At one time I had to climb a chain link fence to get to one of the other age groups quickly rather than go around. Thank goodness for the really young kids. There were not as many of them and of course they haven't quite grasped the egg hunt thing and their motor skills aren't as developed, so they move a little slower. That gave me some time to get a few more shots I wouldn't had time for.