Photographer: Richard Gwin

Camera: Nikon D1H

Richard Hermann, Wellsville, an oil well serviceman, sits in 104-degree weather at Oil Patch Pump and Supply in Wellsville, greeting friends passing by.

Lens: zoom lens at 33mm

ISO: 250

Aperture: 6.3

Shutter: 1/200

Part of a photographer’s job between photo assignments is to keep an eye out for what we call “wild art.” This term encompasses about any found situation where the photographer is willing to watch something unfold in an attempt to tell a story with a single image. Photographer Richard Gwin is often out in the community, alert to these feature photographs and stories. He recounts the making of one such feature below.

I was on my way to Wellsville to do a high school football team photograph. On my way there, I tried to think of locations where I could find a feature photograph that related to the recent hot weather. Maybe I would put a twist on the hot weather feature and find someone working in a cool storage freezer.

With several ideas running through my head, I turned a corner and immediately saw a scene worth photographing. The large door on the front of Oil Patch Pump and Supply in downtown Wellsville was open to Main Street, and employees were gathered around a large fan, watching passers-by. I introduced myself and moved around the shop taking photographs.

“Yes, it’s hot, man,” said the subject, Richard Hermann, as I got behind him for a photograph silhouetting him in his chair, the fan and some passers-by outside.

I took other photos in the shop that related to the employees unusual record-keeping of the summer’s weather. Back at the newsroom, I provided the news desk with three photos and information in case they wanted to turn my “wild art” into a larger photo package with a story.