Third Place, color

While walking with a friend through a back alley during last summer’s Dally in the Alley, the annual block party near Wayne State University, Matthew Taplinger snapped this shot. "I just stopped and thought, ‘oh, cool!’" he says with a laugh.

After graduating in 1999 with a degree in photojournalism from Ohio University in Athens, Taplinger got a job with the Observer-Eccentric putting his skills to work. Photography, however, has since become a hobby for him. "It was taking all the fun out of it," he says of his postgraduate job. For now he enjoys taking pictures for fun and entering his work in the occasional contest (he received a bronze medal from Detroit’s Scarab Club last November). "Third place — I guess that’s my thing," he jokes.

This photo was taken using his Canon EOS camera and Fuji Superia 800 speed film. Currently without access to a darkroom, Taplinger uses his friendly neighborhood Rite Aid for developing and for standard 4-by-6 prints.