When the city gets drenched in rains as has been most of the last few days, it looks different… people behave differently. Seems like traveling to a different place without going anywhere..
Category: Travel
Update: Moved to NYC
In my journey of life, I have now moved to my next stop – New York City. Time will only tell how long I will be here. New York is one of the best places with photo opportunities, if not the best, so I am very delighted indeed. It is a strange dichotomy, however. Opportunities and scarcity can both be advantages when it comes to art and creativity depending on how one uses it. Some say actual creativity comes from constraints forcing one to reach out beyond the norms of regular thinking. I continue my quest to document my life around me … what interests me and then express in my the way I see it. In short, discover through the camera who I am and share it along. I would rather have all these opportunities to try out different subject, different elements, style, talk to different people, meet different photographers, explore other people’s work in books and museums, and so on and so forth.
Brighton Dam, MD
I have been exploring the idea does the camera has to see what the eye saw. Lately, I have spoken to quite a few accomplished photographers on this topic. I have also tried to read up few articles and essays that tangentially touch upon this subject. And the overwhelming verdict has been – it is not necessarily true. Even in the arena of news reporting which has to bring reality to the viewer, the photographer has made a conscious decision to exclude certiain things and included others. As the cliche goes – art says not only about what it includes but also what it excludes. In the area of nature photography, however, the latitude by definition is quite broad.
So, last Saturday I was out with this mindset. It was a good hour drive to the a Azalea garden and Brighton dam in Maryland. I was driving there with an intention of breaking out of what I usually do. And these photos reflect what I tried. Albeit marginally.
I saw flowers and apart from taking the iconic shots, I moved out. It was strong light of the afternoon. I had the option of waiting till the light became a bit warmer. But I shot directly into the sunlight instead, playing with the colors. I shot placing my eye from the branch looking out long the small branches. I saw the sky like a bug through the flower trying to peak into the clouds. Later, as the wind started blowing, I wanted to flutter with the leaves. I moved like a flying leaf and wondered how the flowers and greens looked as it circled in the air, and the result was nice colors like an impressionist painting.
There are wonders that can be done with the camera. And not necessarily all that lit was seeing and captured was what I could see, however, it was the world I was in and in some ways I could see a bit in my imagination. To the extent I tried to create an artificial mist in the dam picture by exposing parts of the lens longer than the rest. Previsualization as they say. Worked a bit. More to explore.
San Francisco on a rainy day…
Taking the streets of Los Angeles w/ Keith Skelton
I was looking forward to working with Keith Skelton for quite some time in the streets of Los Angeles. Los Angeles is a big city with a lot of things happening. Keith chose a day with Chinese parade in the afternoon. In the evening, the plan was to go to Hollywood.
Street photography is more than just taking pictures of a place and its peoples. It is is about capturing the right moment along with the usual parameters that goes on to getting the right picture. What distinguishes between the good from the ordinary is the “eye”. What would look nice in a picture – a two dimensional frame. An ongoing debate on this topic – is that what the eye saw? I will share my view in another post.
The composition brings the feel and form that connects the viewer to the point the photographer has captured. Sometimes, this feeling is intuitive — coming in a blink. But, as the noted cognitive scientist Herb Simon and popular writer Malcolm Gladwell both reckon — such intuitive decision making ability comes to the trained eye in this case and not to the novice. It comes with practice. Spending few hours watching Keith Skelton go about doing his stuff gave me the opportunity to see this clearly.
Street photography is also about personality. So much about being in contact with people. And it is not so much being chatty and friendly. It is about making others comfortable, so people keep doing their own business. Shop owners keep looking for customers, and customers keep on with their transaction. The photographer is just a silent non intrusive entity who keeps watching. And when a prey-like subject appears or about to as in the case on the umbrella/hat store in Chinatown, he shoots it. Keith says – do not stalk. Well, I am not sure that I agree with that. If I am unobstrusive, undisclosed, and following all the laws, whats wrong. I observed how Keith handled the situations. In many ways, he was up there, when I was a bit slow, like the girls who dressed up like divas. Later, he was there with the tableau before others. He, for once, appeared like that obnoxious photographer who jumps on everything unless pushed back. But I got – that is what it takes. If I did not see him working like that I would have considered my time wasted. The other important learning was the camera to use. He was using the Nikon D300 which by no means is a slealth street camera. He also had a compact. During the event, when there were a million people with cameras, there was no issue in people being photographed. He used the D300 and it was slinging loud and clear. He did the same when he was in Hollywood later in the evening — when there were crowds and the place was touristy, he had the big camera. But then, where taking pictures can land someone in trouble, he was using the compact. This is an art that needs to be mastered. Just like anything else, practice is the key to mastery.
Once back from Hollywood at dark, I was dropped by a guy named Danny at the Westin. The Motion Pictures Reel awards were going on. I had a drink and walked out to the LA live where after a couple of strides, I ended up in Rock and Fish. Not so much of picture taking. It was a moment of reflection — what the day was, what were the moments of lost opportunity.
The day had began with Keith going through a book by Henri Cartier-Bresson in Amtrak station of LA. To perform and capture the “decisive moment”, there is much work and training of mind is required off-camera. This was what I was wondering. Street photography requires mastery of composition and speed to an extent that it comes second nature. With that thought, I was slowly setting my mind to Yosemite. In a few hours, I was about to take the bus with moments captured from my few hours spent in LA. Thanks Keith. Thanks to all you who were such a great company.
Europe
Few months back, I spent a good three weeks in France and Italy. Visited Paris, Nice, Florence, and Rome. It amazes me the unlimited photo opportunities that part of world provides.