Defining Style

This roll happens to be a good roll to show what kind of photographs I take, and my view on them. The following views are ideas in development (pun certainly intended) and are an exercise in helping me verbalize what it is in photography that I like and do not like, in photographs that I have both taken and hope to take.

The People In My Life

I am not afraid to photograph the people around me. Some people might consider it "too easy", tame or lame; I consider it a privilege. The people I see regularly are the ones most important to me. Their interactions with the world is something I care about, therefore the photographs I take of them matter deeply to me too. This care keeps me honest.

John at a 3am edit break(@Yummy Noodle)

Michelle at ThisOneCamera meeting

Mikey Fresh taking a break while on a video shoot

My mother waiting for a train during a blizzard

SnapShot

Another category of mine is the snapshot, the shoot from the hip quick capture of the things surrounding me. These photographs are usually faster, but I get the biggest rush taking these photographs. I love tempting fate and seeing how close I can get to the sleeping man on the train or the woman about to drop her falafel. Each time I see something starting up out of the corner of my eye, I love the feeling as the potential builds into a situation. I have to work on framing better on the fly and composing, but this style of shooting Is where I put in the most practice, and I hope to improve on that.

Boy

Man on Metro North (Harlem Line)

CityScape

I sometimes also shoot objects that seem interesting to me. The city due to its constat erosion (made up of millions of pairs of shoes), is always in a state of transition. The sidewalks are the beach and the ocean pounds relentlessly. This leads to situations that last small amounts of time. A graffiti tag might only last one hour in this town. The discards of tonight are gone by the morning, but when they are there they can be certainly memorable.

Three Legs

Live YA Life

Moon

Saying Yes To Situations

The fourth kind of photograph results from situations I get myself into. For instance, with the bottom photograph I was shooting a music video and I caught this frame during a down moment when I had a second to put down the video camera. I consider these photographs to be in a different category, because these people aren't close to me, yet they're not snapshots either. I will have to find time to define this category of photography more clearly. They are frames I am almost not necessarily interested in, but at the same time I cannot give up the opportunity to take them. I have no regret in taking them and want to share them, therefore I am not ashamed of them. Most of these photographs come from saying yes to a situation I am new to, or saying yes to an impromptu invitation.

Scriyls and Kalae AllDay

On a more technical note, I had my camera lubricated and had the rangefinder realined (in anticipation of a long trip). I shot a roll on my backup camera, a Voightlander Bessa R with the same lens. Turns out my backup is not so reliable: the shutter seems to be either out of sync or not light tight. It could of course be the fact that it was the end of a bulk loaded roll of film. Well, for now the Leica is not in excellent condition. A few bucks later... I hope it stays that way.

Light Leak Example

Kind of cool in its own right though it's a mistake.