Glow

Untitled, originally uploaded by take 1 for all.

One great thing about flickr is its great diversity of style. Browsing around flickr, I often come across photographers who employ styles completely different from my own. And when I see photos like the one above, by take 1 for all, I'm first moved and second inspired. The warm glow of sunshine from the window above, and the expression of peace on the woman's face set me at ease. I wonder what the story is behind the woman and the photographer, what she's thinking, and also think about all the times I've sat around with my girlfriend, soaking in the warmth under a square of sunshine.

At the same time, I'm inspired because my photos rarely look like this. The cool color temp, purposeful overexposure, haziness, and off-balance composition are all things that I've tried to keep out of my photos, either through my in-camera settings or post-processing on the computer. I have some habits to unlearn. Specifically, what I've learned from this photo, and others, is that I one great way to bring attention to natural light is to shoot into a light source, with your subject backlit, exposing for your subject. Also, I have to let go of the orangy-yellow kodak-style image in my head. Again and again, cooler, bluer photos are the ones catching my attention.

I'm still chasing after a feeling. take 1 for all has captured a bit of it and I feel that he's one of many on flickr that are helping me along my way.

Bokeh

let me see, originally uploaded by kestra_400.

Bokeh describes the blurry quality of out of focus areas in a photograph. At large apertures, in the right settings, sometimes the light is transformed to resemble little Christmas ornaments. That's bokeh. Different lenses all have their own characteristic bokeh. In some of the flickr groups you can run across lens arguments debating the "good" or "bad" bokeh of one lens versus another. This post isn't about what makes good bokeh, though. I don't know anything about that.

I'm just here to show you this photo and tell you that kestra_400 is one of a band of photographers that does beautiful low light/available light photography. And he does it on film. My own experience shooting film is limited to my Holga and an old, crumbling Nikon that I have in no way wrapped my head around yet so there's not much insight I can offer into the way this photo was shot unfortunately. All I know is that it's not always easy to find places that bokeh beautifully.

I wonder if it has to do with the city. Many of the most beautifully executed photographs that feature predominant bokeh are set in the metropolises of Eastern Asia: Tokyo, Hong Kong, Taipei. It could just be my affinity towards tiny points of shiny light shooting out of the darkness. Drop one sharp subject in there, and I'm pretty much guaranteed to drop my jaw in return. I really like how in this shot the person in the foreground seems to be peering into the distance, admiring the lights just like we are.

It's great how there not only a variety in the colors, but also intensity, and nature of the blurred out lights. There are the blue solid lights that are clumping at the bottom, a similar clump to the left of orange lights, a row of red lights coming down diagonally, and then translucent-seeming bubbles of yellow and dark red floating up to the top. Staring at those lights, I can't help but guess what I'm looking at. I try to piece together a scene in my mind, but everything dissolves as soon I start to make any sense of it.

Direction

This Way, originally uploaded by photosapience.

I like the simplicity in this photo. It's an image of a person in front of a wall, arm outstretched to mirror the signage. The size of the white arrow is big enough to dominate the frame and loudly dictate: this way. The arm and index finger are nearly completely overshadowed and outweighed by this massive symbol, and yet, the arm stands out almost as much as the arrow. There's an interesting play between positive and negative space. Is the red wall the solid, with a cutout form of an arrow? Or is white the positive space atop a red background? How then does the arm factor in as an additional form? Is it a positive space surrounded by a colorless negative? Or vice versa?

There's also a juxtaposition of curves and angles: the organic and inorganic. Because the wall is backlit, the figure in the foreground is thrown into near total silhouette, not only creating a play between light and dark, but emphasizing the lines and curves of the human form versus the angular form of the arrow. What's so cool here is that we have two geometrically opposite shapes that convey to us the exact same message. A rectangle with a big triangle on the end registers as "arrow" which registers as "this way." A person with arm stretched out away from the body, three fingers curled in, registers as "person pointing" which registers as "this way" too.

I think the vignetting from the Lomo LC-A camera helps to further emphasize the brightness of that arrow. The use of the arrow as the primary light source is beautifully done. I especially like how the figure isn't totally dark, the light subtly washing across the t-shirt and wrapping around the arm and fingers. What a cool effect.

Shinjuku

Night_of_Shinjuku, originally uploaded by clarice & ....

Here's a glorious example of cross processed slide film out of a Lomo LC-A. This is a great night time shot filled with plenty of interesting detail. For me, this photograph has become iconic of one of the busiest districts of one of Asia's busiest cities: Shinjuku, Tokyo. Shooting from a pedestrian overpass, Clarice was able to capture the towering neon billboards and store marquees illuminating the busy street below.

The wonderful contrast and saturation really makes this image shine. It's likely due to a combination of the 100iso film and the cross processing. The choice of film, Kodak Ektachrome, along with the color temp of those street lamps probably contributed the green cast. The sharpness through most of the scene and the vignetting at the edges are thanks to the awesome Lomo LC-A.

I'm somehow drawn to the motif of striped crosswalks, featured at the bottom of this frame, and pedestrians at night. I feel that it's a key element in the concept of urbanity. While the night encroaches from all sides, the metropolis holds the stifling darkness at bay. The deep patches of black night all around serve to set the lights in brilliant relief. Looking at this photo from a distance, or as a thumbnail, the jumble of lights seem to explode out of that vanishing point, moving not just out towards the edges of the photo to conquer that night, but up and off the page/screen to enforce its super-reality.

Blue

..., originally uploaded by motionid.

Motionid is one out of a handful of photographers over in Japan walking around with amazing lenses strapped around their necks, documenting what they see on the city streets. I've been hooked on this guy's work as he has a knack for capturing subtle emotions in tack sharpness with scarce available light. Each candid portrait is loaded with feeling. The shallow dof afforded by the fast lens isolates these people, magnifying their expressions.

When I see an image like this, I feel like there's a whole story here. One commenter on flickr described the photo as having a cinematic tone and I agree. It's not just the wide crop and the dramatic lighting, but the sense that we are seeing a single frame from a movie. I wonder what it is that's weighing down his shoulders, causing that subtle lean. I wonder what music this man might have playing in his earphones that might cause him to pause and furrow his brow that way. He's dry, but that raincoat tells me maybe he expects stormy weather.

Looking through motionid's stream and seeing photos like this one has opened my eyes to the beauty of cooler color casts at night. I've always tweaked my photos in post to get a warmer, kodak-like, temp. I realize that I've neglected a world of blues and violets that I now want to go out and capture.