6.07.2010

Sometime the only rules that apply are propriety.

So, I've made all kinds of pronouncements about how one should do street photography but here's one situation that falls outside my strictures.  I saw the face and wanted to do a quick portrait but she was in the wrong light.  I walked up and asked, in very broken Italian, if I could take her portrait and if she would mind moving about twenty feet to the other side of the street so I could take advantage of the overhanging structure to shield her from the direct sun but close enough to a bright wall so I would have some direction light on her face.  It was near dusk and she was also illuminated by the light fixture in the overhanging structure.  The whole process took about three minutes.  She was amenable but guarded and that was exactly the look I wanted.

Rules are helpful in defining the boundaries that you must inevitably step over to do art.



Photographic Lighting Equipment: A Comprehensive Guide for Digital Photographers

7 comments:

Michael Ferron said...

Nice shot. I surprised she agreed as the expression has a certain distant feel to it. ( PS do you ever miss the film experience? No knocks on digital but I still see a certain look to film based shots that I find appealing.)

Wolfgang Lonien said...

Wow - what an awesome photo! Hope you sent her one for being that nice...

cheers,
Wolfgang

John Krumm said...

Geez, why didn't you ask her to hold a reflector while you were at it. : )

I was out shooting once, with photo brain in high gear, and a nice tourist couple, seeing my fancy camera, asked me to take a shot of them in front of the glacier near our town. I positioned them just right in the golden light, glacier behind, and took several shots before realizing they wanted me to use their camera.

François said...

Ha Ha Street Photographers !
Anyone wanting to mess with Captain Kirk !

A quick lesson, and a great shot.
Thanks again.

Dave Eisenberg said...

Your B&W film grain brings me back. It's delicious.

Kirk, Photographer/Writer said...

Dave, Grain is a beautiful thing. We should have more of it.

Kirk, Photographer/Writer said...

John, Do you think she would have held up the reflector? I should have tried.....