On 5/13/07, Christian <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Fernando, please don't take this the wrong way, I don't
> but this is the type of > "street" shot I just don't "get." It's a woman's back as she enters a > limo... ok? now what? Slice of life scene? What can I say, I just saw something and pressed the little "doohickey" ;-) Like a joke, there's no grace in explaining a shot, right? The short answer is that I like it, the long, well, I was strolling down Queen St. on Saturday morning and while I was passing by Toronto's City Hall I see a woman, 2 meters from where I am, entering into a limo, surrounded by three guys, that looked like a Three Stooges version of a bodyguard group, kinda mafia like, and with sunglasses. She wasn't obviously getting maried, just getting into a limo walking a red carpet, and it just spured my curiosity and the whole scene looked funny to me, I took a quick picture with the wideangle prime and the k10d that I'm carrying all the time with me, and kept walking. One of a guys problably saw me, but I didn't care. So I guess, I am just appealing to your curiosity, the same one that I felt when I was there, the wideangle look I like because instead of detaching you with a tele 'voyeuristic' look I am just trying to put you there where I was. And not that much to more say. > It just lacks interest for me. Judging for the number of comments it collected here at PDML you are not alone my man ;-) Funny thing is that the next day I posted this photo it got accepted in a heavily curated pool of street images that I like (my first one): http://www.flickr.com/groups/onthestreet/pool/ the "Hardcore Street Photography" ooohhh ;-) (who knows for how long because the admins of that group usually go back and review old images), nothing really important, but this was a little personal milestone that I was looking for, since I started trying this street stuff a month ago or so. Anyway, in a month from now I could be hating this image anyway, I just don't have the time to dedicate to this the way I should, letting these images "decant" for a year and reviewing them with no attachment at all, so sending these photos to groups is a quick reality check, that's all. This doesn't mean that I dump my memory cards to the internet, I still try to detach myself from the emotions I felt and select images that I find interesting, but I just found that this is more difficult in this type of photography, you see, there's this thing of facing your fears, in the end you are next to a stranger, taking a photograph, trying to capture a candid moment, and you don't know how that person might react. I don't want to shoot from the hip because it's just too miss and hit, neither I hide what I'm doing, I just do it quickly, most of the time no one sees me, but if I'm seen I just smile. So all this macho game for a shy guy like me just triggers extra emotions I guess, and makes it harder to forget that moment when I took that shot. > Then again, my birds might be dull and boring to you. Not even close my friend, let me refresh your memory, this is an extract from one of your last PESO's: Fernando: "Great photo Christian!! Sharp, nice light, I like it. I'm amazed by your wildlife photography." And that's sincere man, I like the stuff you do, the fact that I'm trying this now doesn't preclude me from liking your work, just like I can enjoy Beethoven, The Police, Nirvana and Iron Maiden, I just switch on and off different "mechanisms" in my brain I guess. Just like I didn't like beer the first time I tried it, the first time I saw this kind of difficult-to-like street photo in photo.net, from a guy named Andy something, I disliked it, and kept watching his portfolio because I couldn't believe this guy, sending this snapshots, and acting so cocky and confident about it, until I saw an image that "wow'ed" me, and then I kept reading, and watching photos, and reading, and well, I developed a taste for this stuff. Anyway, this long reply is here, because I think, that your words "but this is the TYPE of 'street' shot I just don't 'get'." Had and extra meaning over a simple criticism to a simple image destined to fade away just like some of the other so many PESO's that die alone here at PDML, if I was right and you really are just a little bit curious about this stuff, and you only have to time to read one of the links that I'm posting, try this one: http://2point8.whileseated.org/?p=57 If you are still reading this and I haven't kill you by boredom, please don't judge this genre by my photos, as I said, I'm just starting, but take a look at these guys (no one is famous BTW): http://www.flickr.com/photos/mecan/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/hinius/ This one used a pentax+da21 for a while but now is shooting film: http://www.flickr.com/photos/shveckle/ And this guy is living in Tokyo and had a series of photos taken with a Mamiya Press camera at night (yep with a big bulbe flash) that I find interesting: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jimoconnell/ Anyway, just for the record, my favs don't include any of my street stuff (yet): http://www.flickr.com/photos/ferand/sets/72157594145830599/ and my most popular photo this year so far is, taaaraaaan, a landscape: http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=395612866&context=set-72157594145830599&size=o > > Also, as Rick and Dave mentioned, too dark. That's on purpose, in the inmortal words of KC & The Sunshine Band: Oh, that's the way, uh-huh uh-huh, I like it, uh-huh, uh-huh. Cheers Fernando -- http://www.flickr.com/photos/ferand/ -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
