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Sometimes, it’s the smallest detail that makes us connect with a photo, like the brief moment a father wipes a tear off his daughter’s face as she learns to ride a bike.
Its a simple, sweet gesture with some “tough love” behind it that gives a window into their relationship, said photographer Alexandra Wimley.
“I’ve seen the ‘learning to ride a bike’ moment photographed many times before, and I think this small gesture set this moment apart,” she said.
Allie, a photojournalist at the Post-Gazette, found Jamar Resse and his daughter Giaonia at Emerald View Park after a nearby assignment fell through. It was a rare sunny evening in Pittsburgh, so the park was a good option to find a feature photo for the next day’s paper.
“I knew I could make a decent frame with the nice evening light and the backdrop of the city,” she said, “but I wasn’t expecting to find a moment like the one I stumbled on.”
She photographed the Reeces for about 10 minutes, taking around 80 photos. She knew it was a nice moment, but didn’t notice Jamar wiping Giaonia’s tear until she went to edit her images.
“I also loved how Giaonia couldn’t care less that I was there,” Allie said. “It can be tough photographing kids because they always want to pose and smile and play up to the camera, but she was laser-focused on the task at hand which allowed me to show the moment as it really was.”
Like much of the Post-Gazette photo staff, Allie’s past week was mostly filled with covering the homicide trial of Michael Rosfeld and the protests sparked by his acquittal in the shooting death of Antwon Rose II. She witnessed a lot of anger and sorrow in those protests and said this “quiet moment of love” was a much-needed change of pace.
“A lot of the narrative around the trial was about how black men and boys, like Antwon Rose II, are seen by society,” Allie said, “so it’s important that we’re seeing and even seeking out positive images of people of color.”
Photographed on a Nikon D5 with a Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 lens
Shutter speed: 1/250s; Aperture: f/2.8; ISO: 320