Student story-Life behind the lens

By Anne-Marie Albracht

A shaggy headed teen pops a kick-flip amidst the hustle and bustle of a standard New York City street.

Snap.

Two women smile triumphantly as they present a birthday cake lovingly coated in creamy vanilla frosting and topped with dozens of flickering candles.

Click.

A man aides his young son as he makes his first meager efforts to ride solo on a two-wheeler in front of a narrow, semi deserted alleyway.

Flash.

Cary Conover, Flint Hills Publication Workshop instructor, lives for these moments. And not only does he become part of them. He preserves them.

Armed with his 1970 Leica M4-P film camera he hits the streets of New York City everyday, ready to stop time and capture precious nanoseconds of daily life. Knowing what will make a good shot is instinctual, Conover said. He sees, he melds, he shoots. He blends in and becomes one with his work.

“When you see a good shot your whole body leaps and you just stretch to get that picture,” Conover said. “You have to have it.”

But there are all different kinds of picture-worthy scenes. Some, he said, are explosive and attention grabbing, while others capture those quiet graceful moments that you find yourself staring at forever. Conover doesn’t play favorites.

“I like shooting everything,” he explained. “Couples, romance, nightlife. Just the crazy, quirky things you only see in New York City.”

Dedicating your life to capturing the lives of others might make some lose touch with the person behind the camera, but Conover claims the opposite.

“I get to discover the world and things about myself,” Conover muses, “I look at pictures I’ve taken and each one tells me something about myself I might have never known. I think you can tell a lot about a person by the pictures they take.”

Conover’s dedication to his craft is one that has no hours, holidays or limits. It follows him everywhere, down alleyways, around deserted street corners and into the lives of others he will never know.

"There are some photographers who go out to get a picture," he explained, "and there are others, like me, who are laissez faire and go into real life and bring the camera regardless of whether or not they plan on using it."

Conover works not only for pay but for the love of the game. It is a lifelong sport in which he will always compete. The sign of true passion.

"There's the work you do for them and the work you do for yourself," Conover said. "It's fun to be paid to take a picture, but for me, photography is as much a way of life as it is a way of living."

Anne-Marie Albracht is a junior at Notre Dame de Sion and a student in the advanced writing class at the Flint Hills Publication Workshop.