I am scared of flying. I spend lots of time in the air because of my job. So I have to find ways of taking my mind off what is going on around me. So I take photos out the window. And sometimes, it looks pretty amazing. Especially, if you come from a cold, wet country, like England – to Asia. Where things really do look quite different.
New House Being Built
Right now there is a mini building boom going on around where I live. Houses are being built on just about every street within walking distance. And a little further a way, new offices and shops are taking shape along the main roads. I think I previously wrote about changes in the area following the opening of a much anticipated new bridge – and how the money seems to have followed it.
Anyway, this house is in the typical Vietnamese form, taking its strength from a reinforced concrete frame. They appear tall and narrow, usually being on more than three floors. When building work begins, the workmen (and women) build a small shelter to one side of the site and live there for weeks on end until the building work is complete. Sometimes you see whole families working together – which in someways is rather nice. But a building site is a dangerous place to be raising a family.
I’m really liking the 50D for low light photography – EI1600 with a 35mm F2 lens gives lots of options.
Heady Beer
I went to a colleague’s wedding one evening last week. I hadn’t really got to know her – only that she is always cheerful and has a ready smile. And then I found out that she was getting married. Would this all be set to change? I have to confess I am something of a cynic – albeit with a romantic eye.
Anyway – what have I gleaned from the experience? I think pace and intensity was probably the thing that struck me. From the moment you enter the room food and beer is coming at you – and you can rely on a succession of the bride’s family coming over to have a glass of beer with you. And there will be a lot of beer. And the men tend to sit together and the women tend to sit together. And then suddenly – earlier than you think – it’s over and everyone has gone. Which might be the best way.
Adrenaline Model and Sunkissed Bombshell - A "Before" Picture
Thursday, 5th November 2009 – Ho Chi Minh City
I think last week, I was writing about photography as a thing you do – it requires effort. Well, after a few emails back and forth, I managed to set up a shoot with Adrenaline Model (that’s his name on Model Mayhem) and Sunkissed Bombshell (again her MM name). I didn’t have much time, so we had narrowed things down to an hour on Thursday afternoon. Because of time constraints, I decided to use a park in the centre of the city – which is normally very quiet. So – I managed to catch up with my models and we headed to the park – and it was REALLY busy. There were people everywhere. And the ground was wet – so I couldn’t put things down – which I really wanted to.
Normally I do portraits indoors, in fairly controlled conditions. So this was like the opposite. There were people in the background (in white – which is the worst) and the foreground at times – and the sun was setting – and it was getting dark (think EI 1600 – 1/80th s @ F4). But still we pulled something out of it. The session is here:
http://jamesshackleton.zenfolio.com/p1003515404
And as always happens when you are in a rush, people always want to ask you what you are doing. Was I making a film? A fashion shoot? Really I could have had some fun with all that, but as it was I wanted them to go away. At least no one asked me what equipment I was using.
Toward the end of the session this old man came over and asked for a photo.
Martial Arts Expert
He said it would be for a book he had written – I think it was about Kung Fu – definitely a martial art of one sort or another. He said he would send me a copy of the book if it gets translated into English.
So it was an eventful hour in the park!
Saturday, 31st October
I have been using digital cameras off and on for the last 10 years or so. I’ve owned a few – most were OK – but I always found myself coming back to film. I think my new Canon 50D is a turning point in all that. At the National Museum on Saturday, I found myself wandering around taking photos at EI1600 (see photo above) and the results look fine – to me. In the past I have been able to take photos at EI800 with my G9 and F30FD (which sometimes managed good pictures), but they nearly always needed to be run through Noiseware or Neatimage to clean them up. But pictures from this camera at EI1600 seem fine – no further processing needed. I’ll try Noiseware on some of my darker pictures and see what happens.
All at EI1600 – run through Noiseware at default settings. I think they look pretty good.
I really enjoy “found” photography, odd like thngs that make you smile as you wander around. Life-size cardboard cut-outs always seem slightly surreal to me and will sometimes make me double take for a moment (which I suppose is the idea). I found this one wandering around a shopping complex in Singapore at the weekend. It was quite an intersting place to wander once you get away from Orchard Road and its vicinity.
This was in another part of the same complex. It appeals to me on a number of levels:
1. The towels tone with the red’ish brown tiles.
2. That’s a lot of towels.
3. One of memories of being a teenager at home, is of being surrounded by huge bagfuls of towels, which were being washed and dried ready for the next day (my family owned a hair salon).
Landing in the Rain
Wednesday, 28th October 2009
I got back today (Sunday, 1st November) and feel really tired, so my post will be a little shorter than usual, I think.
I’ve been on holiday this week and trying to set up a session with a model for next week. The emails are going back and forth – I’ll be really busy all week, so fitting it in will be hard. ‘cos time is short, I’ll be photographing at a park in town – which again affects the kind of shoot it will be … and so on. In some ways this is a good thing, I work best when I have limitations placed on me – too much choice and I don’t know where to start. I want it to happen – but like so much in photography, it requires a determined effort – to make it happen. I know some people are inclined to go all mystic about photography and talk about “flow” and responding to the situation, but quite often I think it is about being proactive and creating the outcome you want. If I ever write a how-to photography book, that would be the title.
