Tiny Little Fractures

Photography is a tough to become good at, well as most things are I guess. But to me being essentially a scientifically minded person, the arts have always been dark mysterious fuzz to me. This despite the fact that there are a fair amount of arty people in the family. But if there is one art form I’m starting to love and really get an understanding of its photography, heck I’m even considering it as a future career (assuming I can get good enough, heck even that greatest of greats Frans Lanting started in his thirties). Of course a major part of photography is an ‘eye’ for a potential image. It’s easy enough to imagine a good composition in your head when presented with amazing scenery or a beautiful person or a striking bird. However what I see when I peruse the works of the greats is producing a quality image in a more mundane situation.

For someone like me however a great deal of luck is needed to produce a picture in such a situation and that did happen on the way back from Big Sur (more on that later). N wanted to get some nuts on the 146, don’t ask me why but apparently that highway is the place to get nuts. I wandered outside the isolated shop I noticed the lines of crops on the other side of the highway…hmmm…might be an interesting picture with the highway providing a horizontal line and the crops at right angles to it. So I started clicking away, after a few tries I knew when I had to press the shutter to get a car where I wanted it in the frame. Quite pleased with myself I looked to the right and couldn’t believe my eyes. Centering the camera I held my breath, whispered a quick prayer to the gods of good timing and pressed the shutter. The result?

Serendipity

So T forgot that she needed more than just one page on her webpage, seriously I worry about the girl sometimes ! I ended up having to trudge to Barefoot on my penultimate day to take some more shots in front of that now famous wall. An hour of groveling in the dirt, ribald comments from the one assistant, ass/crotch shots and I was done. This time I got paid in limejuice and a sausage and waffle…definitely going up in the world. My favourite shot from the shoot, definitely the one below,

BTW if there was any incentive to move to Sri Lanka and get involved in photography, I can’t think of anything more than this…talk about jaw-dropping beauty! I was without doubt spending time in the wrong places in Sri Lanka….next time…next time….

I had my first ‘official’ shoot yesterday at Barefoot, official in the sense that a friend wanted some pictures of herself for her website and I got paid in limejuice. Actually the limejuice was much, much appreciated considering the severely dehydrated state I was in due to the previous nights antics. I was actually very nervous about taking the shots, mostly because when I head out with a camera I head out for myself, what I want to capture and showcase to the world. Yes I do care what other people think of my work but mostly because any shortcomings they can point out helps me improve my work. That and there is that ‘small’ ego thing of people swooning over one of your pictures. I hadn’t really dealt with handling someone else’s expectations, but it was definitely worth the effort.

Barefoot was hot, very hot and I had two ‘assistants,’ which made me even more nervous with the painful shyness around strangers that I suffer from. Also I’m sure I looked a bit odd rolling around the ground in a white t-shirt at a café in Colombo. Thankfully the wall T had chosen as the backdrop was at the back of the foot, so my antics would have only amused my subject, the two ‘assistants’ who spent most of their time sitting around and making ribald comments (including one un-kept promise of a bit of disrobing) and the kitchen staff. Of course since I started off as a wildlife/nature/research photographer I really don’t mind groveling in the dirt too much, but still. 

Some things I learnt, in a situation like that composition is of the essence, especially when the subject is as fussy as T and perspective, a couple of inches vertical either way works wonders. Also burst shots are essential; there are so many emotions that cross a human face in the space of milliseconds that I think for portrait work shooting fast is essential. You never know when you might get that one unguarded moment that is magical. Anyways it was a most enjoyable experience, hopefully the pictures come out well, the subject is happy and pacified and I’m definitely looking forward to more limejuice shoots.

Just a taste below….T in a pensive mood