Silom Street Open
Market
In the main
street in
Bankok on a sunday afternoon, There are a number of shops.
Heidelberg,
Germany.
I was standing in a busy
street doing nothing. All of a sudden, a crowd subsided and there was
this scene. A moment
is everything for a photo like this.
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The theme this time is
how to take attractive trot 'n shoot photographs. Since what is attractive
and what is not is a matter of subjective judgment, I will talk about the
Hemlen's way to trot 'n shoot photography, so to speak.
I make it a rule to pay
attention to the relationship between the photographer and the photographed.
I try to convey to the photographed my intention to take a photograph as
much as possible. Although it is technically possible to photograph somebody
without being noticed by using a telephoto lens, such ways of taking photos
would not make me feel very good as if I am stealing something from others.
I usually try to let the photographed notice that I am taking a photo by
exposing myself with a camera, and showing signs for consent or try to
"talk with eyes", if you may.
Accordingly, the objects
of my photography will naturally be limited to happy people, as they are
prone to feel comfortable about being photographed. In contrast, those who
are not in a good mood or suffer from some hardship tend to react negatively
to a camera pointed to them. I was involved in a trouble once in Seoul.
When I was taking photos of an ironware market, there was a man pulling a
pushcart full of scrap metal in the direction to which I pointed my camera.
I did not intend to take his photo, but the man thought that I did, and he
became furious. He grabbed my arm in anger, and I was afraid he might even
break my camera. He was probably very tired from the day's work and was
apparently in a bad mood. Since then I decided that I would leave the photos
of such people to professional photographers and limit my object to happy
people who are willing to be photographed.
I am not going to talk
about photographic equipment in detail here, but the important thing is
that you keep cameras with you all the time, as the chance for good shots
may come any moment in trot 'n shoot photography. This means that a compact
and easy to handle cameras are appropriate. I don't like a single lens reflex
camera, as it is not only heavy but also imposing when it is pointed to people.
Particularly, an auto-focus, auto-rewinding type is noisy, and is no use
to me. I use either a range-finder camera or a high-specification compact
camera. The quality of these compact cameras are improving very much lately.
Wherever I go, I go to
the market. They say that the market reflects the economy. The variety
and prices of commodities, the way people negotiate, expressions of people,
all make good photography. In Kazakhstan, the market was full of coats,
jumpers and boots when the temperature started to drop. The market in
a port city of Cambodia had a full range of live shrimps and prawns splashing
water. The street market in Bangkok had a pile of tropical fruits.
I also like crowded places.
Main streets and shopping centers in the evenings of Saturdays and Sundays
are full of people. The difficulty of photos of crowds is the fact that
the flow of people affects the framing. If by chance a big back of the
person going away is position in the center of the frame, normally the
photo gets ruined. In contrast, it happens that the flow of crowds gets
cleared away, just like a cloudy sky has a sudden exposure of blue sky,
and if good looking people are in this void of crowds, this will probably
make a good photo. Waiting for such moments, I sometimes stand in the street
for some time waiting for the chance.
The most important thing
is to capture the good, lively faces of people with expressions. Also
important is the background showing the atmosphere of the place the photo
was taken.
Once you read this, you
make a good trot 'n shoot photographer.
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