Good event photography requires you to anticipate what is about to happen before it happens. You need to know where to be, what to watch, when to step forward, and when to disappear.
I photographed Live on the Avenue in downtown San Anselmo on select Friday and Saturday evenings throughout the summer. It’s the kind of event that puts those skills to work.
Each summer, San Anselmo closes the streets and turns its downtown into a place for families instead of cars. There are games and activities for kids, people meeting friends for dinner and drinks, movies in the park, and live music on two stages at opposite ends of downtown. There’s always something happening.
In Live on the Avenue, San Anselmo has found the solution to the problem facing so many American communities: How do you bring people back downtown and give them a reason to stay?
For local merchants, it creates an opportunity to welcome customers outside traditional business hours. For Marin County residents, it’s a chance to have dinner, listen to music, meet friends, watch a movie, enjoy a drink, or simply let the kids have fun in a safe and unstructured environment.
Photographing an event with multiple activities across several blocks requires constant awareness. I need to be invisible when I’m looking for an authentic moment, but approachable for a group photograph. I need to anticipate moments, adapt to constantly changing light, and make the most of a photograph when it presents itself. You don’t get a second chance.
Mattie O’Grady, Director of Community Services for the Town of San Anselmo, summed up the result:
“His photographs ended up being the perfect blend of what we need to keep promoting the event and truly captured the spirit of what makes it special.”
She also noted that with two music stages and activities spread across downtown, I had “a wonderful eye for authentic moments and small details,” creating images that made a lively and expansive event feel personal.
That was the goal: to photograph something large while making it feel intimate—to show Live on the Avenue not simply as an event, but as a community coming together on a summer evening.
That’s How I See It.
