Thursday, February 1, 2007

day 19

Labels: , , , ,

1 comment:

  1. philFeb 1, 2007, 3:07:00 PM

    shopkeepers in nakasero market, kampala. i really think that scenes like this deserve a large format camera at f/22 because there's so much detail. but i will try to make do with my 22.5mm x 15mm image sensor. obviously not at the same level as a 4 by 5 inch piece of film.

    everything imaginable is sold in the market. it is sold from stores that range from open air stalls, to plastic sheets spread on a piece of sidewalk, to boxes mounted on the back of bikes, to backs of pickup trucks, as well as countless storefronts like this one; about 16 feet wide and 10 deep with every square inch packed. here i bought supplies for our gardener: a hand fork, rubber boots and overalls.

    the purpose of my photo comments is to talk about the image and what went in to creating it. for me, that usually involves the technical aspects of photography - lens, light, composition, color, etc. but i guess that you can't really separate the image from the subject and the experience that goes in to interacting with the subject. also, i recognize that most of the people viewing these images are doing so because they know me and they want to learn about and share my experiences in africa, and maybe aren't so interested in f-stop. so there is the question of how much do i talk about the story of the picture and how much do i talk about the photography of the subject. i don't know.

    personally, i'm more interested in "how do i make the best possible photo of the scene in front of me?" sometimes the answer lies in manipulation of the equipment at my disposal, sometimes it comes from understanding the environment and the cast of characters that i'm presented with.

    i guess it would make sense that the comments about the image be geared towards what my concerns were at the time, what problem i was trying to solve, what questions i was trying to answer, what moment i was trying to capture, what emotion i was trying to portray. the list goes on.

    anyway. something to gnaw on.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)