Category Archives: Cuba
Breaking Rules?
Here is another one to think about. The rules of composition say the woman is looking in the wrong direction out of the frame. So who wrote that rule anyway? Is that rule valid for all compositions? Should we follow the rules? For me, the image works just in part due to the balance added to the frame by the yellow doors. Once again, I open it up to you to respond. What say you? Do you adhere to rules or do you break them? And does this composition work for you?
Trinidad Man
This image has been haunting me for a bit. I love image and the man’s face but can’t help but feel I had intruded. I asked permission but still felt awkward. Lets turn the tables. Say some Cuban Tourists came to your house and pointed a camera in your face, how would you feel? Awkward, thats how I would feel and did feel as I photographed this handsome man. Interested to know your thoughts on the idea of photographing people in a foreign country.
An alternate color version below. Remember, you can click on an image to make it bigger.
Which Composition and Why?
WOW! I asked for some feedback and you came out in droves! Thanks much for the thoughtful feedback on my last post, Color or Black&White? You were so good, I’ve decided to ask for your opinion again. The scene is a locked door on a small building at the Colon Cemetery in Havana. The rag hanging from the door caught the attention of my friend Stan. He showed me his shot which inspired me to go back to see how I might interpret it. I ended up with two that I liked enough to process. One being top weighted the other bottom. Then my choice was, do I include the door frame on the bottom weighted version or not? As a frequent commenter Stephan would say, choices and more choices! I look forward to your comments.
Color or Black & White?
I need your help. Which one works best and why? Simple right? Great! I look forward to your feedback. :)
Trinidad Taxi and my first Cinemagraph!
Back in Trinidad. I was setting up this scene when I saw the beautiful taxi and quickly grabbed the shot. I didn’t see the motorcycle behind him with the exhaust pouring out the tailpipe. I think that adds so much to this scene. I used my Topaz Lomo style processing in Topaz Adjust 5 which I feel fit this scene very well.
Below is my first Cinemagraph! I know its dark and corny, but I just wanted to do one! Pretty easy to do really, just follow Mark’s short video tutorial that I posted along with the post yesterday. I can see these being really fun to do!
My home in Cojimar
The terrace that Hemingway writes about in “The Old Man and the Sea” is the La Terazza Bar in Cojimar, about 20 minutes from downtown Havanna. Cojimar is a very interesting, small fishing village. This particular home is near the end of the main street. The gentleman was kind enough to let us take his picture while sitting in the colorful entryway of his home.
I have a couple of things I want to share today.
1. Be sure to head over to Tony Sweets blog today to see his stunning floral photography with his new D800E.
2. Mark S. Johnson’s post today is about how to create a cinemagraph. What is a cinemagraph? Take a look at these on the Ann Street Studio Blog. I’m going to give one a try today and will share the results in a future blog post. Looks like great fun!
6:30
While wandering the streets of Havana, I passed by this woman who immediately caught my attention. Not wanting to draw too much attention, I did not put the camera to my face. Instead, I preselected my focus point and focal length, then held it at chest level and guessed at the focus point. I got pretty close but wish I had not cut her hand off. Other than that, I’m pretty happy with the image. The doors act as a natural frame, the clock in the background add a nice element and of course she is a wonderful subject.
I’ve included a b&w version below. Captured with my Fuji X-E1.
Window Shadow
A simple composition strengthened by the addition of a shadow.
This has become a personal favorite from this trip to Cuba. I was intentionally looking for shadows that might add to the colorful doors and windows of Trinidad Cuba.
Parked
I photographed this car last year. I loved the Lafayette sign above it. I’m pretty sure the car has not moved since last year. It was very dirty and seemed to be in the very spot I found it previously. I was not going to photograph it again and then, like I spoke about in a previous post, I thought, what can I do differently. I moved across the street and this time and included the woman. Last year, when photographing cars, I was all about clean scenes without people. This is something I’m prone to do. My comfort zone is clean images without people. Add to this, my negative self talk which has been, I’m not a “people photographer.” As such, I’ve never been comfortable photographing people. I envy those who are. We had a few on this trip who I’ve learned from. While this is not really a “people picture” adding the human form is new for me and I’m very happy with it. I think it adds to the image.
How about you? Do you stay in your comfort zone? Is it hard to try new things? What did you do to beat that demon?
Tampa sunset and a new quote.
We left Havana arriving in Tampa late afternoon. As we arrived at our hotel, the sunset was brewing and looking pretty darn good. I looked at Tony and said, wanna shoot it? We were dead tired but could not resist! We ran through the parking lot to the glass building next door and had a BLAST!! A few more below. All shot handheld with the Fuji X-E1
I came across a new quote from Max Planck. “When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” I think this applies to photography as much as it does our lives. Oft times we think we know someone, until we look at them through a different pair of glasses. Walk in their shoes if you will. I find it much the same with photography. To many the building next door to our hotel was just a place of work, another building. For me, it was a giant mirror reflecting the amazing display in the sky that night. A perfect graphic design to add to the sunset.
