Glimpse to the world Around us

Glimpse to the world around us.

As Orson Welles said “The camera is much more than a recording apparatus, it is a medium via which messages reach us from another world.”

And I have quote this because I have photographed a family recently living in very bad conditions, slum area they are facing so many problems which includes lack of water, dirty floors, poor ventilation and they do not even have shanty houses but they are satisfied as the photographs below will depict.

The photograph is a house of that family which I am going to discuss further. I have captured this picture to introduce the environment of the living of this family.

This picture is itself explaining the atmosphere of their family, they are people having nothing with them no money no food no luxuries but they have beautiful hearts and pure souls.

And look at her eyes and just feel her life really I can feel her life and as Jean_Luc Godard said:

“When you photograph a face, you photograph the soul behind it.”  It’s true I can read her soul.

Someone’s whole world.

·         Miserable but unique life.

·         Look at her eyes and feel her life. When you photograph a face . . .you photograph the soul behind it.- Jean-Luc Godard

·         Visually imperfect couple but who knows about the heart.

·         Sometimes love is caged.

·         Love is all about mother.

·         His life, his passion.

·         Let’s look back for a while.

·         This is perfect if one can feel.

            

Handling and organizing photographs.

Handling and managing photographs.

Keeping a backup:

It’s important to take care of your artworks very cautiously because it’s your work and by keeping a record you can later understand the mistakes and can compare your photographical learnings. Keeping a backup of data and updating it regularly is no doubt a good choice and practice.

Keeping on-line data:

It’s a good way to keep data online so where ever you are you can access it easily and there will be no issue of losing it. There are so many websites who offers free storage like www.dropbox.com, www.bitcasa.com etc

Organizing photographs:

By Making separate folders for each and every trip it will become easy to access data without having any type of problem. There can be so many ways to organize the data it may have done with making albums of by renaming the photographs.

Take & keep Notes:

as notes always makes everything very meaningful and it helps to remember  important and little things so by taking notes with each and every photograph you capture will make you more professional and skilled one.

Taking notes

Content sheets and Test printing:

Content Sheet

Test Printing

Making content sheets and not even making it also printing it with different settings and if treating photographs on Photoshop try to take test print with every setting you want and then put then in front of you and let your creative mind decide what is good and what are the lacking.

learning photography

Learning photography

No doubt, practice makes a man perfect and whoever don't believe it will suffer with failure. Photography can also be learned by practice but before practicing it you have to understand few things.

1. Your camera

camera 

it’s not important to have a overpriced and very professional camera because in initial stage you don’t need that but whenever you make photography as your profession you must have good and professional equipment as it then becomes a demand of your profession. 

2. Read and watch photographs

 

As reading is a very good habit but here from reading I do not mean any type of text but here it’s all about reading visual language. It’s very important to be a good photographer that you try to read photographs of good photographers try to understand the composition the light and the relation with subject. 

3. Learn about legendary photographers

Learn about the lives of photographers they will help you to know that what is important and what is not. What you should do and what you should not. It will also help you to manage time and subjects. By reading about the photographers who didn't have the equipment but still they have done a tremendous job will be a great motivation for you.

4. Don’t stick to one mind subjects

Good photographers always have their one specialty but before knowing their interest they practice each and every mind set to know about their interest. It is important to change your mind and go out capture different things portraits landscapes sign-age architecture nature etc.

buying a DSLR makes you a owner of it, not a photographer.

It’s true that the trends of photography have changed but it does not mean photography has changed. Now people think that having a overprized camera with its expensive accessories you can make good pictures but it’s important to know that yes technology matters but creativeness and imagination of the photographer has it part more. It’s important to understand that overprize equipment is not necessary because if you don’t have the sense of creating composing and capturing things you can never be a good photographer

Since last 2 years I have been through many Facebook pages where people post so many stuff and out of thousands only few ones are well composed and deserve to be called a good photograph.
Before learning about photography I do also get impressed whenever i see someone having DSLR but now its very common people use it like we use point and shot few years back. As someone said Buying a DSLR makes you a owner of it, not a photographer. And I totally agree with that people should also understand it and respect this medium I think there is no responsiveness about photography.People should read books about the importance of this medium and should understand that  the legends of photographers did not have DSLRs.you can take a photograph but you can never make it if you don’t have that creativity and aesthetic sense.
Here are few photographs of some good photographers try to read them and learn with them.

Best street photographer -Walker Evans

As street photography is believed to be the most interesting, inspiring and thought-provoking photography  but it is as well as difficult and challenging too because as

Robert Capa said:

” the pictures are there, and you just take them”.

I agree pictures are there but managing the time and your knowledge about composing things, handling people nearby and also tolerating the environment at the same time you have to do all these things, it’s very hard to click at the perfect moment to capture the unusual environment and making flawless shots or being spontaneous but when you look at the walker Evans street photography you just think for a while that wow! What a photographer he is yes, his photography includes so many unusual things and it is unbelievable that his photography includes

Technical perfections & visual Education

 As he was not in the favor of manipulating the photographs he said in his interview:

“To me it should be strictly straight photography and look like it; not be painterly ever.”

As he did not have the Nikon or Canon DSLR sort of camera at that time he had a Leica, a Rolleiflex, or an 8×10 camera and with this he had done tremendous and beautiful work that’s why it is believed that without having a high equipment his works are technically perfect with visual importance. His photographs are not only technically perfect but they also have visual prominence which is very significance in photography there are rare people having both things in their photography at the same time.

Reality

His photography is sometimes very brutal and cruel because it was real. As he do not like manipulating the photographs that’s why he had photographed the reality.

Instinctive Compositions

In his photography, form and composition both have equal importance and prefers to compose originally, naturally rather than self-consciously. He says I don’t think about consciously, instinctively.

Always Go Against the Style of the Time

He had started photography because he thinks that it is a forbidden fruit and not getting as much importance at that time and then he had started photography and according to his one interview he hated the contemporary style and aesthetic of the time which resembled more “fine art” than the rugged street life he would photograph.

Letter and Words

Letters and words are also the subject matter of his photography except people. Words, letter, signage and billboards are the part of everyday existence and without them the everyday life is incomplete. He had also captured many urban landscapes because he was interested in reading, writing and literature that had a huge influence in his photography – how he was attracted to words as symbols and metaphors of life.

  

He turns his subjects into participants

Some portraits from his work shows that he sometimes ask people to pose for him and in his interview he explains that he likes turning people into participants in his photograpgh beside taking candid shots.

Walker evens is one of the most favorite photographer of mine. I like his compositions and understanding of light and the approach he styles an ordinary thing into a beautiful one.

Capturing Design Elements

Photography is a form of design. And with the help of design elements you can capture one simple object into a very eye catching and exceptional one. These elements includes lines, texture, form, shape, space, size and color. you’ll find all these elements in your surroundings and when you’ll start observing them it will be very surprising for you when you start discovering shapes in clouds, different colors in a leaf, countless different textures in one trunk of a tree and several sizes in pebbles etc

The arrangement and selection of colors can destroy or make your picture. It’s very important to remember color theories and you can also compose your frame with the color classification like primary, secondary and composite colors etc. Like below in (photography I) I have captured the primary colors.

Lines are the most important element of the design and in the picture it creates movement and sometimes the feeling of sadness and happiness it depends on the line weight and direction. Lines in the picture also allows you to find the focal objective in it. In the (photograph) I have only captured the lines in the nature. And the second one is a staircase and these are diagonal lines. Without lines no other six design elements exists.

Shape is also a very essential element and with the help of silhouettes you can show the shape in your picture because of the contrast of the background with the black objects directs your eye and focuses on the shape.

Texture is also important design element and it can be captured with different angles and sometimes it creates the feeling of 3d in 2d photography, if captured correctly. I have captured this tree texture from a low angle and this flower with the high angle.

Form can only be captured when the contrast of light and shadows are there other wise it will be a shape. Lights and shadows can make a form.­

These are few photographs in which I have tried to capture the element of designs.

Color

Form

Color

Form

Lines

Lines

Shape

Shape

Size

Texture

Texture

6 Things to Keep In Mind While Photographing

1. Fill the frame:

    As Robert Capa said:

“ If your photos aren't good enough, then you’re not close enough.”

   It’s important to full the frame what ever you’re working in any medium but photography demands it a little bit more than any other medium because leaving a frame empty looks not that much creative as the complete filled frame does. When your object occupies the whole frame it sometimes gives an outcome of some abstract representation of your actual object. 

    2. Rule of thirds:

Designers, photographer and almost every artist use this guideline to compose their artworks, this rule is also known as rule of thumb. As composition is a very vital part of the photography, well composed objects can make your photograph looks energetic and lively as the focal (active) point are four and by placing your objects on them or adjacent to them can create your photo looks entirely perfect and flawless.

As Matt Hardy said:

“Beauty can be seen in all things, seeing and composing the beauty is what separates the snapshot from the photograph.”

It’s true that composing things with intelligence is important to make a photograph, snapshot can be taken by anyone but they are few who can compose objects cleverly.

  3. Source of Light:

While taking pictures it is important to keep in mind that what is the source of light and where your position will be to capture the object. Light in your photograph can brand your image in both ways either negatively or positively. It’s  a key to take a good photograph to remember that the source of light would not be against your camera because then your end product will be a silhouette and no doubt they looks very creative and artistic sometimes but not every time. Light can be artificial or the natural one but more important is that how you treat it and how you understand it. Understanding light is as significant in photography is like a good composition in it, by adding both things in your photo you can create a masterpiece.

1 4. Take photos regularly:

As Percy W. Harris said:

“Skill in photography is acquired by practice and not by purchase.”

As practice makes a man perfect its same in photography that you might be a best photographer by practicing it. Although according to me photography is not all about practicing it but still you can do tremendous work by shooting regularly.

As Henri Cartier-Bresson said:

“Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst.”

So just think that taking 10,000 pictures is not an easy task to do. So try shooting on regular basis to complete the total of your worst pictures and after it you can take good pictures too. 

  4. Understanding your camera:

Along with the importance of visual impact, meaning and thoughtfulness in photograph mechanical and technical excellence is essential too because it’s impossible that without knowing how to function your camera, you just start capturing things nicely. So there are few things to get control on them and then you’ll be a good a photographer soon.  

·         Aperture

·         Auto/manual focus

·         Depth of feel

·         ISO

You can Google these functions to learn about them and you may download tutorials.

6. Technology does not matter:

In photography technical rightness is important somehow but only in primary basis. Your value of instrument (camera) is important but more important is your own creativity. 

As Arnold Newman said:

“A lot of photographers think that if they buy a better camera they’ll be able to take better photographs. A better camera won’t do a thing for you if you don’t have anything in your head or in your heart.”

Still Camera 8x10 format

Yes its true in all approaches, you can take examples from the photographers who had used the 8 x 10 camera with almost 50 times less functions in them as compared to the cameras now we use, the photographers includes Ansel Adams, Paul Strand, Walker Evans, Edward Weston etc. they all were great photographers not because they had overpriced camera or they prefer the machine over creativity, they were creative by their own selves.

here are few photographs taken my this camera:

may be it's true that there are no rules, no guidelines, no restrictions and no limitations for photographers. 

as Ansel Adams said “

“There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs.”

A Glimpse to Portrait Photography

As Edward Steichen said:

 “A portrait is not made in the camera but on the either side of it” 

I also have believe in it that portrait photography is not just all about capturing a face but then again its all about how to read the faces of the people and how you capture them in a different way its all about capturing layers of meanings, behaviors, values, depth of personalities and yes souls. According to me a good portrait is when the individual is eying the camera because only then you can drive into their soul and read them with their eyes.

 After catching so many portraits I believe that if you fail to figure out an emotional association of the individual, you fail to capture a flawless photograph, particularly portraits.

I am very excited to share very newest portraits captured by me few days earlier.There was an optimistic day and was also spent very justly because I was in between many lovely kids some of them were showing pretentiousness after eying at the camera and some of them had directly rejected.

Here I am sharing some of the portraits captured by me.Look at this charismatic girl in pink below in photographs, she was arriving to the zoo with her family and stopped when she noticed that behind a camera somebody’s eye is on her and than she gave me very inexplicable expressions with one nimble smile. And then girl in red cap giving me mysterious and angry stares was also another kid their and this little boy who was crying awfully enforced me to focus him and then successfully I have preserved all expressions, emotions and personalities in each photograph and the best thing is that I might not be meeting these kids again but I have them in these photographs which will never ever going to run away as that time has been.

And at the conclusion I must quote  

Ansel Adams:

“A true photograph need not to be explained nor can it be contained in words.”

 So I can’t all write what I have read from all the souls and expressions I have captured because feelings can be captured by photograph but cannot be explained.

As I was capturing portraits for the very first time and at this moment I think that 

Henri Cartier Bresson was right that 

“ your first 10,000 photographs are your worst” 

so for me It’s a long way to learn how to capture and how to feel and how to differentiate between a photography and a good photography.