Last weekend was a big one for my progress as photographer. I had my first exhibition. True, it was a small step as far as such things go: As I mentioned on Monday, I've been involved in a rather intense seminar. Throughout the year or so that it's been running, I've been photographing everyone. Last weekend was the last meeting, so I hung everything up for everyone to see - one portrait of each person, and 35 other scenes. Not only did I get many, many encouraging comments from people who's opinions I value, but they also ordered about 900 DM of prints! This means I'll be happily busy in the darkroom over the next few weeks.

What'd I learn from the experience? First, the basic technical aspects of shooting spontaneously in available (and often low) light improved dramatically. It quickly became clear what the situation required: minimum 800 ISO film, 24 or 50 mm lenses, etc. More interestingly two aspects of shooting people became clear - the longer you shoot a person, the less he notices it (goes for guns too, ha ha), and the longer you shoot a person, the better you are qualified to get a truly characteristic shot of him.
 
 

Macro photography is fascinating. We see things continually, as long as we're awake (and in our heads when we sleep) but we can't notice every detail, otherwise we'd go nuts in no time. With a good macro lens you can get intimate with things you'd normally never take a close look at, and then impose this view on others. Exciting. Take a look at this crazy bumpy pumpkin for example, and be astounded at the miniature world awaiting you at your local green grocer's. This series will be going shortly into a photo competition with "food" as the subject. Wish me luck.
 
 

Nudged the text and photos around on this page today, but nothing big. Go look at the galleries anyway.
 
 

Had a big weekend for photography. Saturday I wandered around in the crowded downtown shopping area, and shot people in the street, followed by a visit to the Wolfgang Tilmans exhibit. Sunday I worked 7 hours in the darkroom, and finished off all of the prints for my mini-exhibit next weekend. Here are some thoughts that came up during all of this photo in and output...

I'm finding street shooting a truly exciting experience. It's so different from landscapes (where you're almost always alone) or portraits (where you attempt to control the situation to achieve the right image) or still life (where you're alone and in control). To make a good photo in the street, you have to be open, aware, and quick to react. You have to be brave enough to get in the personal space of others (it's interesting how much more personal space a person requires when you have a camera - basically, for most people, if they notice you have a camera pointed in their direction, you're too close) and take your shots, and hope that they won't notice or at least won't react negatively. This weekend I sat on a post in a spot where people would almost certainly have to walk in front of me, and simply held the camera up and waited. It was a lot like fishing (although my arms got tired quicker), and very interesting to see how people reacted. Half went around behind me, even though it meant stepping out into the street. A quarter stopped and politely waited until I'd taken my photo, not realising of course I wanted to take a photo with them in it. And the last quarter either didn't notice or didn't care, and walked through, occasionally glancing sideways into the lens at the last minute. These are the shots that I'm hoping I captured as I saw them.
 
 

Dropped a few new images from Varanasi India in the travel gallery. Have a look.
 
 

Worked 6 hours in the darkroom last Sunday, and was pleased with most of the results. For months now I've been shooting for a series of portraits of 15 friends, to work on my spontaneous, shoot from the hip, available light skills. It's interesting to see how the photos have changed since I started. At the beginning I wasn't too sure of exposure or film speed, and as a result made a bunch of unprintable shots. I also shot everything, and ended up with a very poor good to crap ratio. The last roll, shot two weeks ago, was not even full after a weekend of shooting, but almost every photo was worth enlarging. I'm having a little exhibit of the series next weekend, and after that I'll throw some up on this page. Keep your eyes open.
 
 

New and improved! Better than ever! This is my new photo page. Click a pic to see a gallery. Also threw in a list of links over there on the left, and this column will contain occasional comments on the world of photography and my doings within it. Enjoy, and .