Walt, let me describe the scenario as I understand it. You walked by, saw an old fire engine, and immediately visualized a great shot that would illustrate/document that fire engine in all of its decrepit splendor. But there was too much clutter so you did something else. Now let me suggest an alternative scenario: instead of trying to take a picture of something that isn't there (i.e., an old fire engine on display against a perfect backdrop), why not take a photo of what is there (i.e., an abandoned old fire engine in the midst of clutter and decay)?
Part of my reason for this comment comes from my assessment of the images Juan Bueler posts on his blog. Most of his street scenes are messy. A lot of visual clutter and distracting elements with, e.g. people cut in half as they walk out of the frame. But his stuff really grabs me. I think because he is showing me what he sees in front of him. Nothing staged, nothing cleaned up, just glimpses of real life on the streets. In the same vein, I would love to see a shot of your fire engine sitting there surrounded by other junk. stan On Jan 10, 2013, at 1:10 AM, Walt wrote: > Thank you, John. > > I did get another shot of that fire engine that wasn't as bad as I thought > it'd be, but still has a lot of distracting background elements for my taste: > > http://www.flickriver.com/photos/walt_gilbert/8366974508/#large > > I may go back when it's not so bright out and see if I can get a better whack > at it. There's an old ('66-'70-ish), primer-grey Chevy Impala parked just on > the other side of it, along with a couple of support beams from the old gas > station awning, that keep me from getting a much better angle on it. I found > out that a friend of mine is a good friend of the guy who owns it, so I'm > going to see if I can maybe get the guy to move it to a more photogenic spot > in exchange for a print. > > Thanks again! > > -- Walt > > > On 1/9/2013 11:47 PM, John Coyle wrote: >> Great timing on the shot of the kids Walt. >> I had the same experience with a beautifully restored fire engine locally - >> parked on the entry to >> a church (modern, so not photogenic) and with a huge white sign behind it >> which got into every >> frame. Wound up doing mainly detail shots to avoid it. >> >> >> John Coyle >> Brisbane, Australia >> >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: PDML [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Walt >> Sent: Thursday, 10 January 2013 10:00 AM >> To: Pentax-Discuss Mail List >> Subject: Dos PESOS: Fire and Water >> >> I took the K-5 and K20D out today, with the FA 50/1.4 on the K-5 and the >> Promaster 70-300 on the >> other, just in case I needed to take a long shot. >> >> The first was taken with the K20D -- a couple of kids I spotted skipping >> stones on the Ohio River: >> http://www.flickriver.com/photos/walt_gilbert/8366207558/ >> f/8, 1/640, ISO 200 >> >> The second with the K-5 -- an old fire engine that was parked in such a way >> that made me want to >> strangle whoever put it there. I couldn't get a decent shot of the side of >> it without a bunch of >> crap in the way, which was really disappointing: >> http://www.flickriver.com/photos/walt_gilbert/8366248736/ >> f/2, 1/400, ISO 200 >> >> I wish I'd been closer for the river scene so I could have taken it with the >> K-5, but I'm still >> pretty happy with it. I'm still bummed about the placement of the fire >> engine. It really would've >> made a nice shot. But, I did what I could with what I had. >> >> Comments, critiques and suggestions as to how to go about killing the owner >> of the fire truck >> without getting caught are eagerly encouraged. >> >> Thanks! >> >> -- Walt >> >> -- -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
