This photo-driven column started with my visiting one of Philadelphia’s hundreds of distinct neighborhoods every week. After a few years (and running out of neighborhoods) it become more of an expression of my “voice” as a visual journalist.
I am still always looking to make photos specifically for this space, and that search often leads me to arrive early and remain after assignments. Last week at graduation ceremonies for the Philadelphia Police Academy Class No. 402 Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel remained on stage posing with any graduate who wanted a photo.
I stayed as well, long after the mayor and other dignitaries and officials had left, so I was there when (slightly taller) new officer Julio Rodriguez-Perez stepped up, and Bethel jokingly climbed on a chair.
Earlier in the week, after covering a few local runners’ heats at the New Balance Nationals outdoor track meet for high school and middle school athletes, I left through a back tunnel at Penn’s Franklin Field.and found this scene.
On Thursday the Battleship New Jersey returned home to the Camden Waterfront and the celebration featured a live performance by a Springsteen tribute band, games, bar service, and sports team mascots. I checked out the view through the vents of a port-a-potty, also lined up with the food trucks along the promenade.
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 Inquirer’s local news section. Here are the most recent, in color:
June 17, 2024: “God Bless America” (American Gothic) by sculptor J. Seward Johnson (1930-2020) on Klockner Road, near the Hamilton train station, along the way to nearby Grounds for Sculpture, the park he founded in 1992 on the site of the old New Jersey FairgroundRead moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
June 10, 2024: Shadows in North Wildwood signal the start of summer at the Shore.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
June 3, 2024: Abdelraham Shalan strikes the “Rocky” pose at the top of the steps at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Better known in the Sumo World as Oosunaarashi, which roughly translates to “The Great Sandstorm” in Japanese, he will compete in the International Sumo League World Championship Atlantic City June 15.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
May 27, 2024: Jim Beyer, of Washington Township, N.J. conducts the Philadelphia Brigade Band during the traditional Decoration Day service at Laurel Hill Cemetery, site of the first observance in Philadelphia, in 1868 to pay tribute to those who lost their lives in the Civil War. What is now known as Memorial Day became a national holiday in 1971. Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
May 20, 2024: A plane taking off from Philadelphia International Airport flys over a turret of three 16-inch/50-caliber Mark 7 guns on the fore deck of the Battleship New Jersey, currently berthed in Dock #3 in dry dock at the Navy Yard (the same dock it was launched from on Dec. 7, 1942). Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
May 13, 2024: Sloan, 2, and Sylvie, 3 months, wait while their parents, Sara Tice and Shane Shoemaker of Kensington, who were close by, shop for spring flowers and garden supplies in Cherry Hill.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
May 6, 2024: Shoppers “donate” other objects besides coins in a fountain at the Cherry Hill Mall, leaving maintenance workers to clean up after them (the coins go to charity). Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
April 29. 2024: While not as common a sight on rooftops as turkey vultures, Canada geese do show up on top of homes during nesting season - as this pair in Haddonfield. Wildlife experts say laying eggs on roofs is unusual, but a way to avoid predators. Baby Canada geese have been seen jumping from high buildings and surviving, because their body mass is so light, they often just bounce.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
April 22, 2034: The city girls’ team is introduced in the first half of a double header at the Philadelphia Building and Construction Trades Council’s 37th annual All-Star Labor Classic, a high school basketball showcase that featured some of the city’s and suburbs’ top boys’ and girls’ players at Holy Family University. Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
April 15, 2024: There was plenty of room under the Franklin Institutes’s specially designed viewing tents after the crowds left when the partial solar eclipse reached maximum coverage - and the clouds thickened.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
April 8, 2024: The tulips, hyacinth — and picture takers — are in full bloom and out in Dilworth Park at City Hall. Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
April 1, 2024: April showers bring May flowers. And abandoned umbrellas — this one seemingly floating in the street in Old City.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
March 25, 2024: Tugboats settle the Battleship New Jersey into its relatively quiet temporary stop at the Paulsboro Marine Terminal - after leaving crowds on the Camden Waterfront and both sides of the Delaware River on Thursday. The World War II-era battleship turned-museum moved from its dock in Camden and remained in Paulsboro for preparation before heading to the Navy Yard in South Philadelphia where it will undergo routine maintenance, repairs, and repainting for the first time in 32 years. The whole project is set to cost about $10 million with restoration work set to take at least two months. Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
March 18, 2024: Friends from Iowa pause before boarding a tourist bus on Independence Mall. They’ve been going to St. Patrick’s Day parades in different states for 14 years. From left are Dan and Diane Sperfslage, of Aurora; Dianne and Mike Loughren, of Hazleton; and Becky and Doug Lindsay, of Masonville. This year they celebrated in Alexandria, Va.; Morristown, N.J.; Ireland, W. Va.; Crown Point, Ind.; and Philadelphia.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
March 11, 2024: Rittenhouse Square on a sunny day, in between the rainy ones. The park between spring and summer, bare branches and buds.Between brown and green grass, long nights and long days. The Super Bowl and Opening Day. Between flakes (we actually had a few this year!) and flowers. Between staying in and going out, scarves and shirtsleeves. Between Pasternak's “Doctor Zhivago” by the fireplace and Defoe’s “Robinson Crusoe” on the beach.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
