Monday, July 12

It never rains in California...

One of the many aspects of the miracle of photography is innovation and originality. Because anyone can take a good photograph, especially now with the advent of Digital SLR's and the vast automated features that they come with. One need not learn the fundamental basics anymore, and forget Film Photography; who needs that? Light Meter? What? And for novices, if they fumble around and take enough photos they are bound to get a good photo eventually... Yes, such is the nature of modern photography...

Hey I'm not trying to say I am the most original and most innovative... I have my own influences as well, and there are many of them. And for as long as I can remember, I have been trying to emulate their work. Some have been successes and a very many utter failures. To me though, these utter failures and modest successes is what keeps me driven (coupled and ignited with the boredom of unemployment I'm sure), and I suspect so do many or most of my contemporaries... It is okay to copy our mentors and influences because I believe it is innate in many if not all fields and possibly more so with photography. Because our influences undoubtedly (sometimes indirectly) help pave the way, whether we realize it or not. They help nurture our budding talents as we struggle to find our own brand; our passion. Emulating them we find and realize our errors and gain perspective; we learn, we absorb, we seek, and we find ourselves. Thus, by emulating we train (such is the cycle of Photography).

They impress upon us the importance of the understanding of the old ways for only then can we truly appreciate the miracle of photography.

For obvious reasons the rain has always been a deterrent when it came to Street Photography. It is prohibitive as you can imagine in more ways than one (like Lenses getting wet. Yikes!)... And if you think about the inherent nature of Street Candids - the constant motion of people - it would seem a wild proposition. And it is... Picture this (no pun intended): holding a camera in one hand and an umbrella in the other as you try to compose a scene while trying as much as possible to keep your gear dry (coz' obviously a damp Lens means a ruined photo) and remaining inconspicuous so as not to scare your subjects of your presence (coz' every purist will tell ya; once discovered you've lost your shot). I mean it is hard enough to compose in ideal conditions, doing it in the rain doubly so...

Not to mention, cameras and lenses tend to malfunction in the rain. I suspect due to fogging, if not water seeping in...

Anyway it started to rain last Saturday in L.A. during my walk so I thought I'd share some of these thoughts and some of the Photos I'd taken during our recent short rainy winter here in SoCal.... Beginning with some of the ones I felt were bad (meaning badly composed and or bad as in malfunctioned due to foggy lens etc), then good...

The Bad:












The Good:













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