Photographing America’s 250th birthday in Philadelphia
Scene Through the Lens with photographer Tom Gralish.
Some weekends are just dates on the calendar. Others become part of history.
America’s 250th anniversary was one of those weekends.
Philadelphia, where the nation began, became the center of the celebration. Across days marked by extreme heat, thunderstorms, fireworks, a canceled parade, and a World Cup match, The Inquirer’s photographers captured the defining moments — and the quieter ones in between — creating a portrait of the country at 250.
After days of closed streets, parking restrictions, and traffic backups leading up to the weekend, Jessica Griffin planned to ride to cover the Wawa Salute to Independence Semiquincentennial Parade. But it was canceled amid a declared heat emergency with 100-degree temperatures before she even left her house.
Instead, she found all the floats — moved overnight from the Pennsylvania Convention Center to Independence Mall in preparation for the parade — in an unofficial parade away from the Historic District.
The cancellation gave the many would-be paraders the opportunity to perform around Center City. Summer intern Aidan T. Gallo photographed Imajin Taiko, a lively dance group from Nakijin, Okinawa, Japan, performing outside Reading Terminal Market.
Musicians, Colonial reenactors in sweat-soaked wool, and visitors (also sweaty) wandered the Historic District looking for something to do. It led to impromptu pageantry around Independence Hall. Marching bands did their (stationary) thing, taking turns performing on the grassy mall.
Working the scene, I was able to frame three different bands at once. The Montrose Marching Unit Alumni Band from Susquehanna County was leaving as the Triuggio Marching Band, a community group from the northern Italian city of Triuggio, and a Falun Gong drum band from New York prepared to perform.
On the Fourth, Tyger Williams found photographing the National Constitution’s Liberty Medal presentation an interesting experience even though the honoree, the U.S.-born pope and Villanova alum, Pope Leo XIV, wasn’t physically there.
Finding a compelling way to photograph someone appearing only on a screen wasn’t easy, he said. “I wanted to be able to show the atmosphere when the Pope was speaking and show the impact he has to those listening to him.”
Jose F. Moreno wanted to create a simple, straightforward portrait essay on the people we often see in costume walking through the Historic District to recognize the people “whose passion, knowledge, and dedication help tell Philadelphia’s story as the city celebrates this historic milestone.”
By using a plain white background and removing all distractions, the focus remained entirely on the individuals and the history they represent. He photographed each History Maker one after another, asking them to “do nothing more than be themselves.” He only made two or three frames of each person against a plain white background.
Courtney Mitchell, who portrays Margaret Woodby, a free Black woman who owned a cake-baking business, smiled during her full-length portrait before turning slightly to the side.
On the morning of the Fourth, I covered the burial of “America’s Time Capsule” in Independence National Historical Park. Before the ceremony, dignitaries posed with Indy, a bald eagle from the Auburn University Raptor Center. Suddenly, another bird of prey swooped down asserting its territory.
I wasn’t actively photographing the scene, but luckily my camera settings were already dialed in. I managed to capture a frame just as the hawk came within striking distance. Indy — who made her first appearance at a Philadelphia Eagles game in 2023 — and her handler spent the rest of the photo opportunity watching the skies overhead.
Also on Saturday, Gallo was back covering neighborhood block parties. In Point Breeze, he heard kids sliding down an inflatable bounce water slide — a block party staple. What he didn’t expect was to see multiple children sliding all at once, including a little girl holding onto her popsicle.
By the time she got to the bottom, the popsicle was knocked out of her hands into the pool. “Luckily, I pressed the shutter at the right times to capture the popsicle and its flying pieces mid-air.”
Yong Kim covered the One Philly: Unity Concert for America on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. The storm-delayed concert featured musical legends along with the legendary Liberty Bell.
Kim and Elizabeth Robertson evacuated the area during the more than three-hour rain and lightning display, eventually taking shelter beneath the canopy of a gas station along Spring Garden Street.
Monica Herndon had been at The Inquirer for more than six years, but this was her first time covering the Parkway concert and fireworks. She “definitely did not expect to still be out there at 2:30 a.m.”
As the storm soaked the area, she waited it out in her car, “eating snacks and singing along to Christina Aguilera hits.” Once the concert resumed, she grabbed her tripod and headed down the Parkway deciding to “set up farther back than usual, hoping to make an image that felt a little different from the fireworks photos I’d seen in years past.”
Herndon used a slow shutter speed, alternating between one and two seconds, “to let the fireworks expand across the frame.” She made lots of images but liked the one with streaks of light that felt “organic and almost painterly…I also love the small starbursts created by the stage lights, a result of shooting at a narrow aperture [f/18].”
A few days before Sunday’s World Cup Round of 16 match, David Maialetti began preparing by cleaning his gear and checking his cameras. He knew the extreme heat was going to be a challenge so kept himself extra hydrated leading up to the match, dressed in loose-fitting, sweat-wicking clothing, and topped it off with a bucket hat.
“The last thing I wanted,” he said, “was to pass out during a key goal and end up a highlight on SportsCenter.”
Before kickoff, he photographed fans and the sweltering conditions, including a security guard dripping with sweat before France faced Paraguay.
His game plan sounded solid on paper until he realized the top of his cameras would “feel like a sizzling frying pan.” He knew the electronics could malfunction if they overheated and “gripping a hunk of hot metal for a few hours,” would not be the most comfortable way to work. His “brilliant hack in the moment,” was to turn his camera upside down so the controls weren’t exposed to the blazing sun. “It was totally awkward like trying to ride a bicycle backwards.”
Fortunately, newer cameras automatically reorient the electronic viewfinder, so after a few minutes it began to feel natural.
His plan kept the cameras cool enough to capture France’s lone goal by superstar Kylian Mbappé. The only downside: every image had to be rotated before he could file on deadline.
In the month leading up to the weekend, I worked on a photo essay on the local Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania Founders who signed the Declaration of Independence. With help from their lineage organization, I met and photographed direct descendants of the often overlooked men who were here with the Second Continental Congress as America was born.
Since 1998 a black-and-white photo has appeared every Monday in staff photographer Tom Gralish’s “Scene Through the Lens” photo column in the print editions of The Inquirer’s local news section. Here are the most recent, in color:
» SEE MORE: Archived columns and Twenty years of a photo column.
