Street sunset.
I love sunsets. Whether i’m at the beach or on the road, sunsets never fail to amaze me. ^_^
Kung Hei Fat Choi!
A continuation of my last post, these are full-color photos taken at China Town in Manila last Monday during the celebration of Chinese New Year. :)
All entrances to China Towns around the world have the Arch of Goodwill.
More photos after the jump. ^_^ (more…)
Back at the streets.
The following photos were taken at Binondo, Manila (a.k.a. China Town) last Monday during the Chinese New Year. My 50mm prime lens is not wide enough to cover the celebration so I concentrated on getting some street captures instead.
More photos after the jump. ^_^ (more…)
A rainy day journey home. (Cell phone photography Part Three)
Typhoon Falcon (international name: Meari) is currently bashing the Philippine Islands after the exit of previous typhoon Egay. Photographing in the rain isn’t very much fun especially when you have to be more cautious lest your camera gets an unexpected rain bath, so I had to take these photos with my Nokia C3 while inside a passenger vehicle on my way home from work.
Flood is a commuter’s great enemy. You can be stranded in the middle of the road, hungry and pissed, and you can’t do a thing. Thankfully the water isn’t deep yet, but I figure it will be if the rain won’t stop.
Unfinished road constructions make driving during rainy season a lot worse. Hello DPWH?? Any plans of wrapping up what you’ve started??
Some unknown motorcycle-driving guy I snapped a photo at through the window. If he isn’t soaking wet, well, he could do with a little leafing on a “Risks When Driving Your Motorcycle In The Rain”
safety booklet.
Desaturated.
Sometimes, a photo originally shot in color looks better in black and white (especially in street photography). Sometimes, it is the other way around.
Today’s photo looks better in either, i couldn’t choose… so in the spirit of fairness, i applied both. :)
Happy Friday everyone! XD
Marketplace in full color.
I’ve been shooting the streets for almost a month now, but i realized that i’ve never really brought my camera to interesting places other than the highway. Hence, today, i tried bringing it to our local market to capture people going about their business of buying stuff.
I don’t think i’ve succeeded, but i still wanna show y’all the results of my labor. BTW, these photos were all shot from the hip. :)
PHOTO #1: Woman in plastic bags. It is a normal sight for people here to carry plenty of plastic bags whenever they go to the market. I like that this photo shows a tricycle and a jeepney, two of the three major modes of transportation in our town (the other one’s Toyota Kijang).
PHOTO #2: Apples and Oranges. The vendor had no idea that i took a photo of him and his merchandise. As you can see, it isn’t entirely a fruit section based on the items in the background which consist of shirts and stuff.
PHOTO #3: Some experiment. OK, this photo may not have any sense. It’s blurry and i can’t really tell what’s the subject. I’ll do better next time! ^_^
Do you have any tips in mind on how to take better marketplace photos? If yes, please share!^_^
Old and young.
The old, afraid to rust in the dusk of their lives, defy age by putting their bodies to work.
The young, too busy basking in their youth, spend piles of moments in unproductiveness and dreams.
Well, obviously, i’m not talking about all the youngs, but some youngs out there… and there are olds who compile heaps of unproductiveness, too.
The end. (I can’t think of a nicer ending, sorry!)
Slippery road.
April’s probably the hottest month of Philippine summer, which starts mid-March and ends in early June. People are lining on beaches with their SPF 100+ lotions and colorful trunks and bikinis. Me? I’m stuck at work and home. Bugger.
So until i’m able to see the beach again, let it rain… :(
Drivers in sunrise.
I still owe you the last part of my Outdoor Portrait Shoot @ Wildlife “trilogy”, but allow me to delay that for a bit to make way for a trivia: half of my street photos were taken while i’m inside a passenger Toyota Kijang (locally known as Tamaraw FX).
Thus, i wanna make this post a small tribute to Tamaraw FX drivers who don’t mind me taking pictures so early in the morning (i work in the graveyard shift so i go home usually at 7 AM).
Thank you to all FX drivers i had the pleasure to meet. :)
(And to this one driver who threatened and stopped me from taking a photo of a super-smoke-belcher jeepney, count yourself lucky that i didn’t take a picture of you! LOL)
Today’s Exercise: Street Two.
OK, the last post was delayed for a day, but this one is completely on-time ‘cause it’s my Saturday post! :D I just finished post-processing my photos, even the unpublished ones, and i feel that i can get back on track again.
[BTW, i prefer the term “post-processing” to “editing”. The latter sounds kinda extreme to me, as if i manipulate photos to the hilt. I used to be a purist, hee hee! But hey, no offense though on people who do---to each his own.^_^)
Another street exercise, brought to you by Odee. :)
1. A cigarette and rags vendor.
2. Man with a cart. My theory is that he’s a bottle and newspaper collector (for the junk shops).
3. Conversations on the street.
4. Taho or soya milk vendor.
The last one’s my favorite. :)
Men in bikes.
I’m a day late for my recent post, mainly because i’ve been more than 24 hours awake yesterday because of work, photoshoot, food tripping, and catching a mall sale. By 9 PM last night i was too tired to even eat dinner.
I hope i can make it up to you with the following three photos of MIBs: Men in Bikes. :)
Through the window tint.
In case you’re interested, these photos were not taken with any kind of lens filters. I simply shot them through the tinted glass window of the passenger vehicle Toyota Tamaraw FX i always ride to home. I was avoiding the tinted part to get a clear photo of the road, but when i tried to take a shot through the tint, the look was not what i expected because the tint is not something i’d describe as reddish or purplish, but more of a black.
Well, what’s done was done, and i like the color anyway. This one below is taken around 15-20 minutes before reaching our town.
You’ll know we’re already near once the road starts to look more “chaotic”.
I dunno if all window tints will give the same result; i’ll get back at you for that!^_^
Vehicles and colored streets.
VEHICLE NUMBER 1: Military truck. I dunno what’s one doing near Time Square street; there are no bases around, save for a very small police HQ.
VEHICLE NUMBER 2: Uhh, what make and model is this?? I forgot that logo. Anyway, i thought this shot was too close… (i’m with my nifty-fifty) I just converted it to grayscale to give that vintage feel. :)
VEHICLE NUMBER 3: A red Isuzu truck. This wouldn’t be interesting for me if the truck is not red and the background’s not yellow.
So, after the vehicles, i have a couple of streets in full color. As Invisible Photographer Asia says, “Street photography doesn’t have to be in black and white (although sometimes it does look better).”
For example, it would be a waste to de-saturate the photo below with all the colorful items (candies, munchies, food seasonings and shampoos in sachets) being offered in this sari-sari store*.
I also tried shooting this narrow alley in black-and-white, but i decided later that i had to take advantage of the houses’ colorful grills. :)
Green, yellow, blue… this neighborhood’s not boring, color-wise^_^ whereas, most gates in our street are in maroon. Dunno if that’s the village color or something. (Wink!)
*sari-sari store = Filipino term for a very small variety store.
Caught in the act.
You know what the sign means: NO CROSSING. And here, in a span of less than 10 minutes, we got two guys who think otherwise.
Tsk, tsk… will say nothing anymore! ;)
Today’s Exercise: Street One.
I’m becoming very fascinated with street photography lately. I find it both a difficult and easy field. What’s easy is that there is practically no rule tied to it. The difficult part is getting that shot that will appeal both to you and to others.
Today’s street shooting is different from anything i’ve ever done. I decided to try this experiment suggested to me by a friend, where i will NOT review my images in the LCD until i get home. I’m telling you, it really took a lot of my self-control! Also, i had my Nikon D40 set to shoot in Black and White. I know it is a better practice to do it in post-processing, but i was imagining that i’m shooting in film hee hee!
Well, enough of my blabbing. I don’t wanna make any excuses on why my shots are what they are. Feel free to post your thoughts. :)
I took more than 50 photos in an hour. Only 9 survived after my elimination.
The last one is my favorite because it’s the closest shot i had of a person. :))
A bit of Cubao in Black & White.
Cubao, one of Quezon City’s commercial areas, is a fairly popular location. It houses the Araneta Coliseum where many events, usually concerts (most recent: Taylor Swift), are held. Although it is not very sophisticated, it has its own charm that i find hard to articulate.
I did another early morning shoot, this time at around 7 or 8 AM, in places where less people tend to go. I’m not good at handling curious stares from strangers, nor confrontations if they think i’m taking photos of them without express permission (which i’m prone to do). I tried to sneak at taking a shot of some construction workers one time, but they saw me before i can even bring the camera to my eye, so i pretended to be looking around and talking to someone on my cell phone.
Anyway, these photos are just a small attempt to street photography. Heck, i dunno if they can be labeled as street photographs… are they? According to www.nonphotography.com, street photography is:
Simply put… includes any photograph made anywhere in public places. Some people narrow it down to urban settings and some people think there must be people present in these kinds of photos. But the bottom line is that each street photographer will find their own meaning and approach therefore whatever definition they might arrive at will work just as well.
The purpose of street photography will again vary from one street photographer to another. Some photographers are interested in simply and honestly documenting life as they see it, at times adding their own interpretation to the scene. Some want to make artistic photographs of available street scenes and others basically enjoy taking pictures and do it purely for the pleasure of it.
I think i’m on the last one, and there’s nothing wrong with that, ain’t it? :)
Street Photography: Check it!
I dunno how to begin this post because i have no amazing street photoshoot anecdotes to tell. All i want is to share with you a blog post i read at Invisible Photographer Asia, titled 101 Things I Have Learnt About Street Photography. It’s a numbered list of 101 street photography how-to’s that i find very useful and sensible.
While many in the list can go without saying (e,.g. Number 8—Don’t make eye contact with your subjects when trying to be discrete), there are others which struck me as not usual to be said about street photography .Here are several of my favorites off the list:
2. Ditch the zoom lens and screw on some prime.
I always thought that zoom lenses are an advantage because of its flexibility in focal length. I wonder why primes are the way to go?
11. Try to refrain from taking photos of the homeless (as most shots can be considered as merely exploitation).
An ironic but sensible advice when beggars are popular subjects for street photography.
22. Don’t worry about the fear of shooting in public. It will go away over time.
23. In my 4 years of street photography, I have only had two people to ask me not to take a photo of them. (Your experiences will most-likely be similar)
24. Most people like getting their photo taken.
Maybe some people find it easy to ask permission from strangers? Is that called natural charm?
25. If a policeman asks you to delete a photo, tell him you know your rights and refuse to do so.
Whoa—did he just say “refuse”?? Honestly, i don’t know my rights:-(
26. There are no rules in street photography.
30. You will be called by others as “weird” for your street photography. Ignore them.
Now this one i like!:D No rules, eh? Here’s a photo break—my take on no-rules street photography. That Tagalog (native Filipino language) sign in the right of the frame says (in English): “NO CROSSING. SOMEBODY ALREADY DIED HERE.”
42. Never delete any of your photos. Some of the technically-off images make the best street photos (think blurry, grainy, or dark images).
This is one advice i’m not promising to follow. It’s always my practice to delete images in-camera. Hmm, maybe i should rethink when i do some street shots.
47. Don’t be sneaky.
Huh? I thought street photography’s all about going ninja?
86. Street photography is a lot like fishing. Sometimes you catch a whole bunch, sometimes you catch none.
87. Getting one or two keeps from an entire day of shooting is a good number.
Now that eliminates discouragement over not getting good enough photos in a shoot!
94. Public transportation is a gold mine for street photography. Learn how to use it.
And here i thought it’s the beggars…
For the complete list, here’s the link: http://invisiblephotographer.asia/2011/02/04/101thinglearntstreetphotography/
Five AM snapshooting.
I’m an absolute sleepyhead, so it’s very rare for anyone to see me shooting before the sun comes up. Luckily, work ended at 5 AM earlier today, which makes it quite risky to go home in a public transportation as it is still quite dark (muggers, you know). I have an hour before the skies open up to sufficient light, so why not get on with my camera and do an early picture-taking first?
Times Square street, the street in front of our office building, is closed to vehicles from 11 PM to 7 AM nightly, thus joggers are a regular sight during early morning. They usually start arriving at 4 AM with their running buddies (dog or human). At 7 AM, some of them can be seen at a nearby 24-hour McDonald’s, ready to replenish the burned calories. Cool!
The photo above is Telus building, one of the three contact centers located in Cubao, Q.C. Philippines. I wish our building’s also that good-looking at night.
At quarter to 6, i’m aboard the FX and ready to go home. Sitting at the front seat, I noticed this line of lights illuminating Marcos Highway, the main road from Cubao to Cogeo (my hometown!). Needless to say, i snapped a picture. :)
Good day, everyone!
