Photography

Highly Creative Self-Portraits

Photography

My Modern Metropolis features some interesting self-portraits from a guy called Pierre Beteille. It certainly gives some inspiration of what can be done with this format.

I conceive photography like painting. The camera is just one of the tools. Photoshop allows me to create my images. So the first and main part of the process is not taking a picture but finding an idea… the idea always comes first and then I seek the best way to achieve it, and I know exactly what I want to get before shooting. My inspiration is the human being. Its absurdity, its irrationality, its pettiness in everyday life. Inspiration can come therefore from politics or religion, life and death, as well as food, television and all our daily behaviors.

I generally try to make images that offer several levels of reading. We first see something and a detail gives another interpretation …and multiple interpretations are possible according to the beholder… And I also try to make people smile!

Check out the site for more interesting photographs and the rest of the interview.

LX5

Photography

I see the successor to the Panasonic LX3 has been announced, the LX5. More details of which can be found on the main photo review sites (dpreview.com for example). The new features don’t seem to justify an upgrade for someone who already owns an LX3. What was particularly disappointing was the fact that the lens cap is still detached from the camera. I will be very interested in the successor to the Canon S90 if it arrives in the near future.

Project 2: focus with a set aperture

Photography

The second project in my photography course was shot way back in September in Munich. The purporse of this project was to shoot the same scene but focusing on different dimensions. This would concentrate attention on different parts of the photograph.


This first image focuses on the closest feature of the scene which was the back of a woman’s head as she watched a street band on Kaufingerstrasse. This photo is not that interesting as the background is too blurry and out of focus while the head is not so interesting from the back.


This is the medium view where the focus is directed at the accordian players in the band. They back of the woman’s head is still visible but out of focus. It is still interesting that it is contained in the image as it gives the impression of a crowd watching the band.


The furthest focus was taken after many attempts to find something interesting to focus on in the passing crowd behind the band. Here, a man comes out of the Kaufhof shop and seems to focus his attention past the band to the camera. This is probably unintentional and was a result of the luck of the shot. Here the accordian player is slightly out of focus but in a much more clear way that in the first photo. In my opinion, this is my preferred photo of the three.