I’m an advocate of letting pictures marinate. Letting them sit for a while before reviewing them and passing judgement on whether it’s a good shot or not. I wrote a blog post about it, as a matter of fact. Most of the times, I follow my own advice, but sometimes I don’t. With this shot, I did.
This particular shot stuck in my mind, though. It popped up in my mind’s eye from time to time. Why? Mermaids, that’s why! How often do you get to incorporate mermaids with Street Hunting?
This is a photograph that has been shot with a Yashica Electro 35 CC with Fujifilm Superia X-Tra 400 film, in Rethymno, Crete, Greece.
Sometimes a Street Photograph doesn’t have to be of something fast moving, candid and unpredictable. Sometimes a Street Photograph can just be something that grabs the Street Hunter’s attention. Last summer I was all about shooting slow and shooting only what I really thought was interesting. Part of that shooting style came from the fact that I only shot film last summer and also because I felt I had gone clicking crazy for a long period of time, wasting valuable time that I could otherwise use to observe the environment around me better. I shot like this all the way up until the end of October 2014 when I started missing the digital experience. By December 2014 I had switched back to digital and my shooting style had changed once again, for better or for worse. As Street Photographers we go through these phases that come and go without warning. Sometimes when our styles are changing or have completely shifted to something new, we look back at our previous work and wonder how we made a particular photo back then. Anyway, one year and 15,000 digital snaps later I am finding myself missing that slow shooting style once again. I don’t know if I will be switching back to film, but I just might. I have a fridge full of colour film and plenty of film cameras to choose from.
This photo was shot with a 16-35mm f/2.8L lens on a Canon 6D in Heraklion, the capital city of the Greek island of Crete.
I made this photo on a Saturday morning streethunt in Heraklion. This Saturday was the first time I had ever been to Heraklion, despite the fact that it is by far the largest city in Crete, and is actually the fourth biggest city in all of Greece. I always find that whenever I visit a city with my camera for the first time I can go a bit crazy – I go in with a fresh set of eyes because everything I see is new and exciting, and I also have a determination to risk shots that I wouldn’t otherwise make as I don’t know when I’ll have the opportunity to return to that place again. Coming from Rethymno with its very narrow winding Venetian streets to Heraklion, with its wider open streets and much more traditionally modern urban feel made for an exciting change of scenery and a liberating street photography experience. As you can see from the Heraklion street hunt video that was shot on the same day, unfortunately this particularly morning started out fairly rainy and cloudy which really limited photo opportunities initially. Fortunately the weather improved around midday, and the winter sun started to produce some fantastically dramatic long high contrast shadows. I managed to find some nice side streets that spread out from the city’s main pedestrianised square area, and I found these much better for street photos as the slightly narrower streets made it easier to get closer to people and be ‘in the moment’ without suddenly stepping up and invading people’s public space.
This was another shot from the Sowebo festival in Southwest Baltimore. That day I was looking for people that were distinctly “Bawlmer”. What is Bawlmer? Go ahead and sound it out once. Now say Baltimore. Repeat. Bawlmer is a softened pronunciation of Baltimore! It is an example of the Baltimore accent. Even though I live less than an hour away from Charm City, the accent you hear from the locals here isn’t anywhere close to the Baltimore accent. There even a Wikipedia entry about it.
This is a photograph that has been shot with a Yashica Electro 35 GTN with Ilford HP5 400 film, in Rethymno, Crete, Greece.
Rethymno in Crete is a place of traditions. There are just some things that never change. I think that in a way that is good, because it gives the place its own unique character. One of the traditions of the Cretans is making the famous Cretan Knives and they attach a great importance of them both as weapons and as tools. Knives were used for the hunt, for war, for killing and other things. There is plenty of information available about the Cretan Knives if you are interested in reading about them.
Shot in Rethymno , Crete with a Canon 6D and a 50mm f/1.8
You may have seen the crazy streethunt video we made in Rethymno using off-camera flash during the town’s annual carnival celebration a few months ago. This year was the first time I had experienced the ‘infamous’ Rethymno carnival, and I just couldn’t believe how perfect it was for street photography! The streets were spilling over with jovial people, dressed in weird and wonderful outfits, dancing and generally having a good time. No-one cared about having their photos taken with a flash – in fact they seemed to really love it! The trouble was, once carnival ended we had to return to reality, and one of the coldest and wettest winters Rethymno has experienced for several years.
The Sowebohemian Arts and Music Festival is held every year on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. It gets its name from the Baltimore neighborhood in which it’s held, Sowebo… an abbreviation for Southwest Baltimore. Just a month prior, Baltimore was making headlines worldwide for the demonstrations and rioting following the death of Freddie Gray while in Baltimore police custody. Some of the rioting and looting took place only blocks from this neighborhood. Since then, the city has “calmed down”, to a degree. Six police officers have been indicted.
This is a photograph that has been shot with a Yashica Electro 35 CC with Kodak Portra 400 film, in Rethymno, Crete, Greece.
I remember this day like yesterday. It was one of those days when things just fell into place. I felt like I could see photos all around me. Those days are good Street Photography days and are also unforgettable.
There was another reason that day was special. I wasn’t shooting on my own. I had company, good company. Streethunters.net Reader and SHRC Moderator Klaus Scherer has paid me a surprise visit all the way from Germany! I was so happy to get his message that he was in my home town. We arranged to meet as soon as possible so we could hit the streets together. We both like Film and Digital Street Photography. This day it was decided to shoot with film.
This photo was shot using a Canon 6D with a Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens.
I’ve spoken before about how sometimes I can head out to take photos and I’m not able to ‘see’ anything interesting that makes a good shot for hours, despite walking miles and miles with my camera. On other occasions I can be in a rush to get somewhere and I’ll see something that would make an incredible photo, but I just don’t have time to stop, take out my camera and make a shot. This happens more often than not – anyone who knows me would tell you I’m always rushing to get places because I’m consistently late for everything! In the week before I’d shot this photo I had an absolute nightmare with this. On one particular day I was running to be somewhere and I saw no fewer than 5 brilliant photo opportunities present themselves, but I knew there was just no way I could stop to take a shot. How frustrating!
Baltimore has been in the news a lot these past few weeks. But it hasn’t been good news. Stories and images of civil unrest have been front and center in not only the television broadcasts, but print and social media as well. Needless to say, it’s heartbreaking. I visit the city often, shooting there and playing there… I truly love it. So to see the destruction, chaos, anger and grief, I cannot help to feel sad because I do have a small connection to Charm City. The deeper, bigger issues of racism, abuse of authority and economic separation are ones that need addressed not only across America, but the entire world. If anything, the positive outcome of what is happening in Baltimore, will be raised awareness of these issues.
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