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Nick Karagiaouroglou
{K:127263} 2/18/2008
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I didn't know of that story about Karsh, Andre! Thanks a lot for telling me! I could imagine him doing that for a good shot, but on the other hand... oh well, it was Churchill himself! I mean, since I can't even get close to the idea of grabbing away his cigar, it's quite hard to think of anybody else doing that - Churchill and the cigar, that was one and the same, and heavens above, I would only stand in fear in front of him that he would perhaps kill me immediately for that! ;-) You know, "eerm... sorry Sir, I thought just.. stutter, stutter!" ;-)
But indeed, that kind of manipulative nature is always present, even if not really willingly from the side of the photographer. We see a picture, and we *are* already polarized towards some certain attitude, some mixture of the own interpretation and the presentation by the photographer. If the image includes just a bit more of this and a bit less of that, our own interpretation will change very very abruptly. Even the biography of the photographer plays a role. So, without wanting to reduce his experiences, we tend to see the photos by Robert Capa in quite a "tragic" way, I think also because we know that he was himself in that hell of battles and wars - the images achieve a different athenticity also because we know that he knew what was going on on the battlefield, and he was nit some kind of "external observer" of the bullets flying around. There is some kind of influence here, though I don't think that Capa himself wanted to really induce.
Cheers,
Nick
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Andre Denis
{K:66327} 2/17/2008
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Hi Nick,
Sometimes the photographer can be very manipulative. You most likely have heard the story of how Yousef Karsh brought out the determined, stern expression on Winston Churchill's face by grabbing his cigar away from him just as he pressed the shutter. I still don't know if that is a myth, but it sounds true enough.
Andre
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Nick Karagiaouroglou
{K:127263} 2/16/2008
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Really? Now, those guys....!! Show her a giant teddy bear and do as if she was seeing E.T. for the first time! ;-)
But I think it is in a way much similar to what you also told me about the other image - asking people if they would allow to shoot a photo of their pets. It sounds to me like boiling down to somehow reduce in the protagonist that kind of being upset because of thinking about the lens that is directed to him/her. So they can be again pretty much natural - themselves.
Nick
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Andre Denis
{K:66327} 2/15/2008
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No problem Nick, I'm glad to pass on that kind of hint. It is definitely not my original idea. Another easy thing to do when taking portraits, especially of kids. is distract them with some toys froma distance. Did you know that those great scenes of Drew Barrymore in E.T. when she was seeing E.T. for the first time were taken when someone surprised her with a giant teddy bear?
Andre
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Nick Karagiaouroglou
{K:127263} 2/14/2008
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Hey, wait! That's such a good idea, Andre, and I really didn't think of that until now! But of course... then the persons are the protagonists but they don't know it, and so they are quite relaxed. I'll have to try that out - there are so many people with dogs and cars around!
Thanks once again for all the help and the small details that may pass unnoticed otherwise.
Nick
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Andre Denis
{K:66327} 2/13/2008
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Yes Nick,
The "sincere climate" you mention is important. I think that was the reason our instructor asked us to try and get people to pose with their pets. The person is then much more relaxed and natural when they believe you are more interested in the pet than them. You could do the same thing with a gardener and his garden, or an auto enthusiast and his car. Quite often the subject will be beaming with natural pride showing off their garden or car. :)
Andre
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Nick Karagiaouroglou
{K:127263} 2/11/2008
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You must laugh now, Andre, but this is exactly the most most hard thing to do for me too: Ask somebody if he/she would allow me to get a shot. But in addition, sometimes the iamges get much better, if they simply don't know that I am shooting. This eliminates the potential danger of "overposing" but of course it converts me somehow to a paparazzi. I think that what Paul (Paul Lara) says is really important, namely to be also able to somehow generate some nice sincere "climate" in order to let people feel they should just be as natural as they are without the presence of the photographer. Hard thing to do - one has to also be some kind of psychologist at the same time.
Thanks a lot for the link to your image, which I am going to visit right now!
Cheers,
Nick
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Andre Denis
{K:66327} 2/10/2008
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Hi Nick,
I agree with you about preserving the privacy of people in the street. Again, I can go back to my old instructor from years ago who taught us to ask permission before taking images with the general public included. Some people are suspicious of you and some are only too willing to stop and pose. I find it very hard to ask people that I don't know for permission to take a shot of them. Still, one of our assignments was to do just that. I got a pretty good shot of a freindly old guy by asking him if he wouldn't mind if I took some shots of his dog on a leash. He just happened to be in the image too. :) The image of course was more about him than his dog. So I was a little manipulative that way. But, at least I asked permission. :)
http://www.usefilm.com/Image.asp?ID=679029
Andre
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Nick Karagiaouroglou
{K:127263} 2/9/2008
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I don't have any "imaginary attitude" on my images, Gustavo. I pretty much don't even care! I try to capture reality, just reality and that's much more than all phantasms in our minds could ever tell. Not that I exclude the element of suggestive thinking - not at all! But first of all it is just look at the image, and see the real world, and that's all about it, you know.
Cheers,
Nick
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Gustavo Scheverin
{K:164501} 2/8/2008
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ja...ja...esa es la historia real, pero cuando me refiero a las historias son aquellas que surgen de la imaginación del que mira la foto, las que se sugieren , no la que es...me explico?, esas historias son el verdadero logro de las fotos!...:-)
Usted es un hombre muy matemáticamente realista, deje volar la imaginación e incluya más habitualmente la fantasía en su vida...:-)
Un gran abrazo!
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Nick Karagiaouroglou
{K:127263} 2/8/2008
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A history of going to some pub with my girlfriend and another friend from the office where he works - and he had a lot to say about the bad situation there, Gustavo! He was indeed right with that.
Cheers and thanks for the comment.
Nick
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Nick Karagiaouroglou
{K:127263} 2/5/2008
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Thanks a lot for the nice comment, Visar!
Well, here I was very lucky, since it's my girlfriend and another good friend, and they were both very absorbed in a discussion about some of the usual problems at the office, which in addition to the fact that they know me brought also that kind of "carelessness" against the photographer, and that I had of course to take advantage of - immediately!
Best wishes and thank you very much!
Nick
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Gustavo Scheverin
{K:164501} 2/4/2008
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Interesante momento, qué historia contará?---:-)
Un abrazo!
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absynthius .
{K:20748} 2/4/2008
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I agree with what Andre noticed in your shot, Nick, it well balanced in the composition.
beside that, which is a very important part of a composition, i highly apprichiate the moment you have captured from this distance. usually people get distraced on such distances, furthermore in street photography unless shooting with a tele, but here they do not seem to pose for you, and that is good in preserving something natural that comes from this scenery.
all the best,
v.
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Nick Karagiaouroglou
{K:127263} 2/2/2008
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Thanks a lot for the nice comment, Andre!
It has been exactly that balance which you refer to, that made me think it would be worth posting. Thanks heavens they were so absorbed in that small talk that they didn't turn to the camera trying to "smile" or "present" themselves.
I must get a bit closer to humans, but I am still hesitating inhowmuch I can do that without exploding their privacies - a bit hard to not cross the thin line between street photography and paparazzi.
For this one it was very easy since the two guys are my one and only at the left, and a very nice guy at the right that works in the same company like she does. But what if they would be strangers? Would that be too close? This is what I wonder about while I get more and more involved in street and people photography.
It seems that one of the main things in street photography is to know exactly when one gets too close. I think that the ohotographer just gas to preserve the privacy of the people he/she is capturing.
Cheers,
Nick
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Andre Denis
{K:66327} 2/2/2008
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A good documentary style street image Nick.
The colour is nice and rich and the people in the image seem to me to be taking up just the right proportion of space in the image, making the image well balanced.
Andre
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