Kirkwood Marching Band in bubbles, photograph by Erik M. Lunsford/Post-Dispatch

Here’s something you might not see everyday, and that’s good, because I aim to find and capture these visual treasures for you.

Take for example the 102nd annual (2009) Turkey Day Game between Kirkwood High & Webster Groves. This is a hotly anticipated game between rivals and a perennial assignment that makes its rotation around the photography staff depending on who’s working the Thanksgiving Day holiday. And while the competition may be fierce on the field, it’s just as competitive bringing home a photograph that outshines the previous year’s work. This year, as luck would have it, the Kirkwood Pioneer Pride Marching Band paraded down the side streets of Kirkwood High just as John Reider and his magic “Bubble Bus” happened to be blowing an onslaught of soapy bubbles. Perfect!

With the perfect gust of wind (the wind had been blowing the opposite direction) the bubbles pelted the band members and setup a gorgeous visual canvas — if only for a few fleeting moments. With a touch of manual focus (autofocus on any camera would go haywire here), I was able to frame up this quirky scene and capture several frames. And while fans can get their action fix in the gallery here, this is the one that I hope surprised readers when they opened their paper this morning.