Photographing The World In A City
Taking photographs – how hard could it be? I soon found the answer to that question. Taking a photograph is simple. Taking a powerful photograph requires knowledge, vision, and expertise. Before this photography project, I did not take pictures of anything other than family or friends. This was a new and challenging experience for me. I found it difficult to get a vision and transform that vision into a photograph. There are so many factors to consider, each one changing the emotion of the picture. By the end of the project, I gained the ability to see and think like a professional photographer. I had gained an understanding and appreciation of the art of street photography.
Choosing a theme was a difficult task at first. Since I couldn’t choose a theme at first, my strategy was to take pictures of everything I found interesting. I separated the 198 pictures into three themes; congested street crossings, juxtaposition of old and modern architecture, and the culture and diversity of different street vendors. After looking back at my work, the latter of the three seemed most promising. In order to polish my theme, I went out for one last night and took around 40 more pictures.
Taking the picture in a professional fashion was a challenge for me. Before this project, I had no idea about the different ways to take a picture. I have taken a family photo or two, but nothing of this caliber. I had to pay attention to every aspect of the picture – the angle, the light, the surroundings, the depth of field, etc. At first I just couldn’t get anything the way I wanted. I could not capture the emotion that I wanted to convey. Three days and 200 photographs later, I began to get the feel of the art. Thinking like a photographer was a new and exciting way to look at the city.
I feel that my best pictures were taken on the last day. I had a good idea of my theme and was able to see it through the eyes of a photographer. I wanted to capture the merchandise and cultural offerings of the variety of street vendors on the streets of New York City. I also wanted to incorporate people browsing and purchasing this merchandise. In order to achieve this, I had to be aware of subtleties such as the angles, lighting, and background. I played around with flash and different light modes to add different emotions to my pictures. In order to incorporate the images that I wanted, I took the pictures in an angle or tilted the camera.
Taking all these pictures made me feel like a tourist. My head was constantly turning in all directions, trying to find something to photograph. But finding the image was the easy part. Most people, especially street vendors, do not like having their picture taken by a stranger. I had some people scream at me and one man even chased me down the street. The sense of danger was exhilarating but the look that people gave me as I went around was awful. I felt like a little rat running around trying to avoid human contact. I simply didn’t enjoy the feeling of being disliked by people on the street.
I think that my photographs would have been much better quality if I were able to use a film camera. I had a 5.2 mega pixel Cannon digital camera. The camera was capable but I felt that it wasn’t enough to capture great photographs. The zoom was sloppy and I couldn’t produce a depth of field. I would have loved to walk around with a professional camera and taking sharp and defined pictures. Ill save that camera that to when I become a photographer working for professor Bernstein at the New York Times.
This photography project gave me priceless knowledge about how to take and understand photographs. Before this, I didn’t realize the full depth and meaning of pictures. I feel as if I have grown as an artist and learned to expand my mind by looking at the world through a different lens – the camera. It was a pleasure to go around the city taking pictures of everything I thought was worthy. The only negative I can see in photography is the way that people look you as a sneaky tourist. This experience has given me the opportunity to be an artist and maybe, a very long way down the road, consider a profession in photography or film.
