The Kids Are Alright – A One Shot Story

By John Bennett

24 June, 2024

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One Shot Story

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Kodak Film Kodak T-Max 400 Leica IIIc
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While walking back to our car after Indian food with friends, my wife and I passed a group of kids waiting in front of a skate venue that was hosting live music later in the evening. I knew their band t-shirts would work well with the black & white film in my Barnack Leica, so I asked them,

“May I take your picture?”

“Sure,” they replied.

Without looking too closely at my camera settings, I rolled the lens to 4′, and snapped.

“Thanks,” I said, and we were on our way.

As I thought, the band t-shirts rendered well, but what I really liked was the looks on their faces. A nice mix of the effortless cool that can only be achieved at a certain age, and at the same time, a kind of wide-eyed innocence. I showed the photo to a fellow photographer, and he said,

“They’re aiming for crustpunk, but they still look like cherubs.”

The photo was taken with my Leica iiic, Voigtlander 35mm f1.7 Ultron, and Kodak TMax 400

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About The Author

By John Bennett
I live in Portland, Oregon, where we are fortunate to have a number of great camera stores and a thriving darkroom scene.
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Comments

Kary Schumpert on The Kids Are Alright – A One Shot Story

Comment posted: 24/06/2024

What a great shot!! I love the line that your friend shared. This absolutely feels like the beginning of a story. Love it! Thanks for sharing it.
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John Bennett replied:

Comment posted: 24/06/2024

Thanks, Kary!

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Cdlinz replied:

Comment posted: 24/06/2024

And might I suggest he return and add to the story. I’ve gotten some great shots and met some really nice folks at a hipster music club here in my town.

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Ibraar Hussain on The Kids Are Alright – A One Shot Story

Comment posted: 24/06/2024

Excellent capture
Not only are the tones spot on but as you mentioned the expressions do give a somewhat different story to their lives than the skater image they have obviously adopted
Thanks again
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John Bennett replied:

Comment posted: 24/06/2024

Thank you, and so true, Ibraar!

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Jeffery Luhn on The Kids Are Alright – A One Shot Story

Comment posted: 24/06/2024

John,

Keep that photo handy, because the kid on the left will be your governor in Oregon in 15 years. The tall kid in the middle will be the first driver to win Lemans in an electric car, and that girl will walk on the moon in 20 years. I'm sure of it!
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John Bennett replied:

Comment posted: 24/06/2024

Good advice, Jeffrey. Thanks !

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Fred Nelson on The Kids Are Alright – A One Shot Story

Comment posted: 24/06/2024

Great picture. A few stories there.
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John Bennett replied:

Comment posted: 24/06/2024

Thanks! Agree: I'd love to meet up with them all again in 10 years, and see where the stories went!

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Cdlinz replied:

Comment posted: 24/06/2024

Great shot! This is why i have made a point to cultivate an instagram account. I live in a big university town and there is constant turnover and rejuvenation here. I take a lot of pictures of the kids and make a point to give them a card with how to find me on instagram. It legitimizes my street photography activity and gives me a channel to share the images if the kids are interested. And has lead to more than a few 'friendships' that allow me to keep up with my subjects lives.

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John Bennett replied:

Comment posted: 24/06/2024

I've been meaning to get a card. Thank you for the reminder!

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Michael Riches on The Kids Are Alright – A One Shot Story

Comment posted: 24/06/2024

A moment in time can not be copied one second later.
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John Bennett replied:

Comment posted: 24/06/2024

Thanks, Mike!

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Peter Roberts on The Kids Are Alright – A One Shot Story

Comment posted: 24/06/2024

Wonderful shot, John.
The slightly off centre composition adds to the off the cuff immediacy and leads the eye into the whole point. These kids are indeed alright even if they might not have heard of The Who.
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John Bennett replied:

Comment posted: 24/06/2024

Thank you, Peter! I am (often) amazed at how much 1960s music today's kids know. These three may have heard of The Who...from their grandparents.

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Bryan on The Kids Are Alright – A One Shot Story

Comment posted: 25/06/2024

Perfect little slice of life. The local skater-adjacent kids are unpretentious salt-of-the-earth types.
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John Bennett replied:

Comment posted: 25/06/2024

Thanks, Bryan! Agree!

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Daniel Castelli on The Kids Are Alright – A One Shot Story

Comment posted: 25/06/2024

A nice, ‘moment in time’ group portrait. The true impact of this shot is in the future - when they are in their late ‘40’s. I hope they will be amused, and showing their children the pic and saying ‘yeah, we were cool then, and we’re still cool!’
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John Bennett replied:

Comment posted: 25/06/2024

I have come to believe that telling kids that you were/are cool is a futile activity. The universal response seems to be an eye-roll, and a bored, "Yeah, sure." And the more you try ("But I hung out at CBGBs in New York!"), the worse it gets. These kids would likely get a similar response from The Kids of the Future!

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Bradley Newman on The Kids Are Alright – A One Shot Story

Comment posted: 26/06/2024

This image is highly evocative for me. In the eighth grade, I played drums in a band at a friend's Junior High School Talent Show. My dad took a black and white picture of us fourteen year-old ruffians outside the gymnasium (with the Nikon FM I currently own). We played a Sex Pistols tune and a punk version of "Summertime Blues" because the Pistols had covered it, too.

The expressions are the same in our photos - forty something years apart.

And to Jeffrey's point: one of us is a lawyer, I'm a financial planner. One of us - the only one I'm still in close touch with - is actually a professional musician in a very well known punk band.
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