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Spray time | Scene Through the Lens

Seeing summer

June 16, 2025: It’s free car wash time again as really hot temperatures return. But as many neighborhood residents know, drivers of cars with rock chips or cracks in their windshields — even small ones — should avoid going through the spray. Cold water on a hot windshield can cause the glass to expand and contract, often resulting in breakage.
June 16, 2025: It’s free car wash time again as really hot temperatures return. But as many neighborhood residents know, drivers of cars with rock chips or cracks in their windshields — even small ones — should avoid going through the spray. Cold water on a hot windshield can cause the glass to expand and contract, often resulting in breakage.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

I try to avoid photographing open hydrants. I encountered this one, at Sixth & Diamond Streets, heading back from an Eagles grandparents event.

Philadelphia’s water system includes 26,000 fire hydrants that are there just for fighting fires. Open hydrants are not authorized by the Fire Department, and the department stopped providing sprinkler caps to block captains years ago.

But that’s not the only reason I don’t (often) photograph them. I first came to Philadelphia after working mainly west of the Mississippi River. I recall being awed by rowhouses, 200 year-old historic buildings, cheesesteaks, swimming in the Swann fountain in Logan Circle, and the Rocky Steps.

And of course, that first summer here I couldn’t help but photograph the dozens of kids playing in the street as water poured from open fire hydrants. It just seemed so East Coast Urban to me.

Since then however, when I’m told to “go get a piece of weather art,” I try to avoid heading to the same watering hole photographers always seem to end up at when out hunting,

So it’s always refreshing each year when our summer intern arrives and we get to see how they view Philadelphia with new eyes.

Last week it was Kaiden J. Yu who arrived here from George Washington University and was tasked with finding a “standalone” photo.

He told me he has a lot of experience with street-style photography, so his “method is to just pick a direction and just go - see where my feet take me and what stories or moments I can find.”

The firehouse mural in Chinatown immediately caught his eye, but as he was photographing the exterior one of the station, one of the firefighters invited him inside as well.

He liked the silhouetted firefighter sitting in a chair, but it was “just a waiting game for another subject to occupy more of the frame.”

Fortunately, it happened for him and another firefighter came out creating a second shadowed figure within the space. The picture ran on the front of the local section.

It’s a cliché to say internships are great for the student but the fresh perspective they bring to their summer job benefits us OGs as well. I am looking forward to seeing Yu’s take on fountains and fire hydrants when it gets hot here. He has already contributed to our coverage, finishing his first week here this weekend with the No Kings protest and the U.S. Army’s 250th birthday.

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: