Strangers in a Park: The Universal Tale of all Cities

Strangers in a Park, a photo by Pauls-Pictures on Flickr.

I've been back in Perth for a week or so and have managed to get out on the streets a couple of times already. It's a lovely city: great architecture (ranging from Victorian colonial to postmodern skyscrapers advertising for all to see the brashness and go ahead nature of the place), nice parks, friendly people and overall it's a nice place to spend time in.
But, a city is a city. And a city can be a lonely place as many of us know. This one doesn't appear to bre an exception: it seems to have its share of people alone, maybe even more than its share. Still, being on the western edge of the continent, I think it is a place of last and sometimes lost hope for many. The end of the line. There is no further you can go.
Now, in this image, we can't say that these two people have reached any kind of low point of loneliness. All we can say for sure, is that they are alone in a park. One appears to be a tourist looking at her map or brochure. The other is simply sitting on a bench. More than that we can't say.
However, coming across the scene I was struck by the lonely "feel" of the situation. Two people alone in a small park near the city CBD. Perhaps they are lonely; perhaps they are perfectly content just as they are and simply enjoying the heat and sunshine on a lovely day in the park.
That is the mystery and the beauty of street photography. The viewer will take away from a photo what they will. We resonate with a scene and it reminds us of something or somewhere, or invokes for us a feeling of loneliness or an emotion. A reaction of some kind at least.
A photo is supposed to tell stories. For me, this one does. Many different stories in fact.
Just as I like it.
Peace

Couple Lunching: Just Another Ordinary Moment?

Couple Lunching, a photo by Pauls-Pictures on Flickr.

Yes it is, isn't it? An ordinary moment I mean. Mind you, eating lunch can be serous business. At least these two are really into it in a serious way.
But, yes it is an ordinary moment. Or, as I have often said or written: a "so-called ordinary moment".
In reality it is a rather special moment. I mean by this that it is a moment that, had it not been for me passing by with my camera, would not have been noticed (by anyone at all really), would be soon forgotten (by these two as they rushed away after their clearly hurried lunch break), and would certainly have gone unrecorded.
Of course it is not simply the act of recording a moment that makes it special. But look at this photo more closely. Who are these people? What is going on? Why do they seem so serious? Are they as alienated from each other as the photo suggests? Or are they just really hungry or in a hurry? And, where are they? What are they doing there? (aside from eating that is).
Questions, questions, questions. And, to be honest, there are, nor will there ever be, any answers we will ever be able to provide for these questions.
And, that is just one of the beautiful and interesting things about this photograph (and about street and social documentary photography as a whole). We are witnesses to a mere slither of time in the lives of this couple (if they are in fact a couple. Another question). In that sense we have been able to share that little slice of life with them.
And it is this that is such an honour, such a privilege for me, and for you the viewer. A connection has been made; a connection that will always be there at some level and to some degree for me and for all of you who view this photograph.
It's a bringing together really, don't you think? A joining of souls, a unification of me, these two people eating lunch, and you, the viewer.
This is the point of what I do as an artist. And I am grateful
Peace!

I'VE COME TO THE LAND DOWNUNDER: Some thoughts & a Story too!

Yes, my friends, it is true: our ten month sojourn in Europe has come to an end and we are now in Australia. Western Australia to be precise. Why WA? Well, it's pretty simple really: we wanted sunshine, beaches, a simpler life with fresh air, less complications and that "new world" vibe.
And, let me say right up front, I think we have come to paradise! Even if right at this moment we are a 20 minute walk to the  beach, we are very happy with the white sand, emerald green waters and lovely pine treed parkland to be experienced at the beach that is at the end of that walk. Next week we move on down south to the town of Bunbury, where we will be about 100 meters to the beach. More like it!
Our few days in Perth after landing there were put to good use: I had a couple of longish sessions on the street which I think produced a couple of reasonable photographs. I certainly felt I was able to pick up on the vibe of the street and managed to convey that, at least a little, in a few of my photos. We're in Fremantle right now, about 20 kilometers south of Perth city and it too has been very productive.
Apart from some good sessions on the street, I have noticed a bit of a new something creeping into my work these last days since arriving here. I've made a number of what I would call still life images of things noticed in the suburb we're staying in. Not only that, but they are in color. Not a lot, mind you, but enough to suggest a new trend or project or ... .
Here's one from yesterday:

Golden Elephant in the Aussie Bush

Pretty isn't it? But is it Street? Well possibly. Is it Social Documentary? I've given this a bit of thought and I've decided that, yes, it is. Let me explain the circumstances and you will see what I mean.

I was walking past houses just a street away from us in the really nice, but "average" suburb we're staying in. Next to one such house is this vacant field which, I think, once had a house on it but has been left to return to nature. Which is nice really. Anyway, plonked not two feet from the sidewalk, right in the midst of this patch of native grasses, sat this elephant. Yes, I know: sounds bizarre, but that's the way I found it. So, I knelt down on the sidewalk, and using the very nifty tilt screen on my Sony Nex 7, made this photograph (and a few more too, which may or may not see the light of day). I loved the way the elephant is facing the trees, and that chain link fence or barrier that looks like it might bar its march to the forest!.

So, you see, it is a document recording a moment, a situation in a suburb in a city, made from a regular sidewalk in a street full of houses with just this one vacant block. Does the photo tell a story? Is there a narrative here? I think there is. In fact, take your pick: How did this thing get there? Is it lost? Stolen? Dumped? Who put it there? Why? Does the statue have special meaning to someone? Or is it just junk?

While I personally think it is a beautiful object (although I don't like any animals "dressed up"), I can say that today I saw the garbage trucks emptying bins in the area. And, when I walked past this spot, the elephant was gone. You be the judge of what fate may have befallen our golden friend here.

I don't often post photographs that don't include people in them. But, for some reason, that is exactly what I feel like doing around the streets in this suburb. Why? Not sure really. Perhaps it has to do with the lightness (as well as the light itself which is wonderful) I feel here. It might be to do with me seeing with fresh eyes after so long on other, more crowded and layered streets. There is a sense in which I think I am seeing more things which in one way or another are forcing me to ask questions, to reflect and contemplate more. I don't know really, but I do feel I want to continue to document the little things I notice on the streets of the towns we visit in this place. 

Anyway, let me know what you think. 

Peace!

Paul

PICK OF THE WEEK: "No Posh Nails Here" BUT there is more!

No Posh Nails Here, a photo by Pauls-Pictures on Flickr.

My Month in Nottingham in England is just about over. Leaving in a week. I know I haven't been what you would call either timely or consistent in my posts lately. Too much going on is my excuse. But, no point in excuses. One must simply keep calm and carry on.
While here (and this is the big news) I traded my Nikon DSLR and two big lenses (and all the bits and pieces that go with it, including a 3.5 kilo tripod) for a Sony Nex 7 and three lenses. Is it lighter? Is it smaller? Well, suffice it to say that in the bag (which itself is a whole kilogram lighter than my old one)  I bought with the extra batteries, cards etc etc, the whole thing weighs less than ONE of my traded in lenses.
But it's an extraordinary camera, this little Nex 7. At first I was having trouble with controls, being used to a big DSLR and all. But now it's coming together very nicely and I love it to death.
I actually feel free. I feel lighter. And I feel I can actually focus on making photos and not on lugging the big gear around all the time (or not lugging it around: it was all becoming too heavy and cumbersome)
I've spent a long long LONG time using SLRs, and I've been a defender of them as being good for street photography. I don't think I will ever go back on that particular opinion. But what I will say is this: I am so happy I've switched. I think I am now embarking on a brand new creative learning curve and who knows what will come from that process?
I think I will have a lot more to say about this switch-over. But right now we are getting ready for the next phase of our never-ending journey, and it seems other things are taking a lot of my energy and brain power (and that resource is quite limited at the best of times). Stay tuned.
Meanwhile, here is an image from an outing yesterday into the city centre of Nottingham.
You see a few of these advertising placards around the town, and, well, I think this one speaks for itself.
Peace!

PICK OF THE WEEK: Eyes Have Been Caught

Eyes Have Been Caught (Almere The Netherlands August 2013

This week I'm coming to you from Nottingham in England. We're here for a month, but as yet I've just made a quick foray into the local streets and a quick few images at the local shops. So, stay tuned for more from here.
So, to the Pick of the Week. Eyes Have Been Caught. Made a few days ago, not long before we left The Netherlands while I was walking in the local mall. Huge it was too by the way; one of the biggest pedestrianized spaces I've ever seen.
Walking past this cafe, I was drawn to the couple. I saw the guy with his hand gently holding the girl's elbow. That, I thought, was a nice image, so I moved closer to the window. As I did, the guy turned to look at something and the girl's eyes followed. That, I thought, was an even nicer image. So, just about to press the shutter button, I saw another couple walk into the frame from my right. That, I thought, was going to make a really terrific image. But just as I pressed the shutter the walking man turned to look in the same direction as the couple in the cafe. And that is the image I was lucky enough to end up with.
The magic of street photography is something I know I talk about a lot, but you know, that's the way I look at it. Of course plenty of time spent looking and being on the street hones the intuition so that one develops what could be called a sixth sense for when things are coming together. This is a case in point. But, then, something extra sometimes enters the situation to take the image beyond the usual, to make a special photograph. A moment that we could if we were so inclined (which I am not) call decisive.
I did not "know" on any kind of conscious level that the guy in the cafe was going to turn to look at something, or that another couple would walk into the frame. And I certainly couldn't possibly know that the man in the street would turn his head just at the "right" moment when I was pressing the shutter button on my camera.
Maybe some street photographers will tell you that they do know all this is going on. And, who knows, maybe they do. But, for me, it is all going on at some other level, which I might call magic. Though, naturally, I know it is not magic. It is intuition. It is being really present in the "zone" of the moment and of the place and of what is going on around me - and within me too. But this is a whole topic of its own which I plan to write about  soon.
And, even if I am in that zone, it doesn't always provide me with an image like this. Sometimes life just rolls on by as it should and does not choose to offer me such a gift. That, for me is part of street photography too. What I end up recording is only a tiny tiny fraction of the totality of what is going on. That is why, for example, I have no idea at all what these people are looking at.
Peace to you all