Public Spaces, Familiar Faces ~Wide Angle Wednesday!

"Waiting"

(1.6 sec @ F/13, ISO 100, 19mm fl, 18-55mm Nikkor Wide Kit Zoom, tripod, remote shutter release)

City life. Inside or out, it gives you endless possibilities to find design, great lighting, and interesting people to photograph. And your wide angle lens is ideal for indoor spaces like this one where you want to include more than just one feature in your photograph. Ordinary people waiting for trains and buses inside the GO Station for example. And when no one will sit still long enough for a long exposure, you can always rely on your family to enter the scene for you. As long as some sort of bribe is involved. For the image above all that the hubby and my son asked for was that I not single them out, let them read in peace, and I was to treat them to burgers n' fries after. Well, I rarely single them out when they're with me on a shoot, and they're so used to me taking my time photographing architecture that they always have a book handy so that was easy. And the burger? I was famished anyways.

I normally don't "stage" a scene like this when I'm out, but I felt the composition called for people in the foreground, near the spot where you follow the path through the image to anchor it. I waited for a bit but no one simply "sat" there in that spot, so enter the family. This worked well since I'm trying to get used to directing people more from behind the camera. I'm known for very solitary compositions that show the architecture "untouched" but sometimes you have to include a human presence when you're photographing such a public place. If you look carefully, there are other people in the background in motion, blurs moving through the station due to my longer exposure. When this is intended, motion blur helps tell the story and adds to an otherwise "static" looking scene. Yes, the design of the space is interesting, and the lighting is definitely cool... but without people in the shot, it looks like an empty shell. Not what I wanted the image to say at all. Plus, much to my hubby's chagrin, he's in yet another photo, since he won't just let me take his portrait. Ha.

Have you been playing with camera settings yet? Trying slow exposures? Getting any street photography? Thinking compositions and scenes through, then shooting! And don't be afraid of the public. Folks will let you know if they're bothered by you possibly including them in a shot. Stay tuned, in a couple weeks I'm going to address photographing the public for portraits and how to approach people. Meanwhile, I'd love to see the results if this is challenging beginners and hobbyists at all to get out there with me and keep shooting. You can do it!
Thanks for letting me ramble on folks!
And have a good one!

Mono Mondays!

"Wherever You GO"

(1/2 sec @ F/16, ISO 100, 27mm fl, 18-55mm Nikkor Wide Zoom, Pattern Metering)

Monochromatic images (aka B&W's) have always been one of my favorite types of photography. There's just something about the way line, shape, dimension and angles are accentuated when color can no longer distract from or fill up the space before the lens.  Possibilities abound with a B&W photograph. Maybe it's just me.

My first Mono Monday features a B&W I took last weekend at the Go Station downtown. If you click on the image you'll see in the larger version the slight ghost images of the public moving through the station to catch buses or trains. I ensured I could open up my aperture enough that a) I'd get the effect of a bit of movement, and b) I'd still get a clear view of the interior design elements of the building which I love without actual clusters of bodies frozen in motion to impede the comp. This is the scene you see as you first enter from the west entrance. The interior seems designed so that the eye travels the length of the station first and makes an impact. It has a very art deco feel, retro in it's styling, and this seemed to be the best way to portray it.

I normally don't like to take such an "eye level" approach to architectural compositions, but the guide belts and stands set up for ques of passengers were directly in front of the doors. So I forced myself to compose accordingly. I also tried shooting from the opposite side, but those booths were open for customers and would get cluttered with travellers. I may yet try that approach still. I also have a color version, slightly different to post later this week. I used my remote shutter release and tripod since my slow exposure would require the camera not to move at all, left my white balance on auto since I work in Raw files and can correct it in editing, and used pattern metering. I played with the length of the exposures till I had some form to the people passing through - too slow, and they disappeared moving through the shot, too fast and they were frozen in clumps. 1/2 a sec seemed to expose correctly at my aperture.

Monochromatic images. You'll find them here every Monday... a challenge to myself actually, to stay aware of those subjects and scenes that lend themselves to the balance of light and contrast, design and space, pattern and perspective. Thanks for letting me ramble on, and as always... have yourselves a good one folks.