Reflection

I love to photograph reflections. And they relate to photography immensely. In photography, many things aren’t but reflections. In most cameras, what you see through the viewfinder is nothing but a reflected view of the world.

So, reflections play a big part on photography. It’s sort of like Plato and the cave. It’s nothing but shadows, fixed shadows.

However common, I don’t find it easy to include reflections in photography. Not in a way that it’s interesting to see.

In this picture, I think it works fine. As the reflection is on water, and it’s blackened by the fountain’s tiles, it makes it interesting to watch. It gives it a surreal quality of a reflected, upside down, world.

This photo was taken in Amsterdam, in the airport, with a digital SLR camera.

Wheelchair

As you may know, I travel quite a lot. Therefore, I spend too much time on airports. My camera is an essential companion in these trips. I spend a lot of time taking pictures between trips.

Sometimes I get some funny pictures. In this case, the motion blur was purposeful. I was learning on how to reduce the shutter speed in order to get this effect. You have to put your camera on shutter priority and follow the target. In this case, it was the wheelchair.

The effect is quite funny. It seems that the wheelchair is going super fast. It also serves the purpose of focusing on the object.

To do it in the camera (without photoshop or similar) the object has to be moving.

This picture also makes me wonder the number of moving objects in an airport. How many miles have these things gone through? How many people they carried? By how many people? The numbers involving airports are mindbogling.

As I said... I spend way too much time on airports...

This photo was taken with a digital SLR.

I don't see myself as a landscape photographer. Aside from the "I've been here" kind of photo, it's rare that I get myself to take a landscape shot.

Whenever I decide to do it, however, it's mostly to do some panorama picture, which is the closest you can get to actually being there.

In this case, it was neither. It was a shot of the Nile (not at a particularly good time, in the morning) done with a medium format TLR camera that I own.

What I love the most about medium format is the detail that you get in the negative. It never ceases to amaze me how much detail you can get. This is a good thing when you're doing landscape, but I like it as well for portraits.

Due a decision to never get portraits of people I know in this blog, I can't really show you what I mean, but the detail is amazing.

This photo was taken in Cairo, in the morning, with a old, beaten, russian medium format TLR.

Sunset in Cairo...

Most people will tell you that photography's primary tool is the camera. But, is it, really? Can a blind person take pictures?

In theory, one can press the shutter and "take" the actual picture, but I wouldn't really call it "taking" the shot. Or, as some people call it, "making the shot".

You don't really "take" photographs, as much as you "make" photographs. You decide a lot of things, when you're taking the shot. Depth of field, shutter speed, white balance (if you're shooting digital), composition... it goes on and on. So, how can one really say he's just "taking a picture"?

Light is - in my opinion - the main tool of the photographer. You wouldn't be thinking of freezing the moments in snapshots, if you didn't have light. You wouldn't see aything to photograph to begin with!

I've come to love light. I've come to see it in a different way. I really come to believe that you can't take a bad picture if the light is perfect.

Not unless you forgot to take the lens cap off... that is.

This was taken with a digital SLR, in Cairo.

Blood on the Streets...

First off, it's not really blood, so relax... it's just paint on the streets. It just seems like blood. This is part of the organized lying I was talking about some time ago.

This is not what this post is about, though. Today, I was talking with some friends over lunch. The talk wasmostly about photography. We talked a lot, about film, about digital and we came up with the beaten down maxim: "it's just a tool, it doesn't really matter what you shoot with".

Now, my personal belief is that photography is not really like other arts. "Sometimes, to get the results the pros get, you need to buy the stuff the pros buy" (quote by a personal favorite, Scott Kelby - seems like a great guy, really love his books. If you're starting into photography, buy his stuff, it's GREAT).

By this, I don't mean to say that you can give the best camera in the market to a guy that knows nothing about photography, and just by holding this thousand Euro camera, every shot will be perfect. Quite the contrary, actually. "Pro" cameras are more difficult to use properly than point and shoot cameras.

But, it the opposite true? Can you give a phone camera to a good photographer and he will take the best picture ever?

I took this photograph with and iPhone (and I'm NOT by any stretch of the imagination saying I'm a good photographer) and I really like it. It's dark, its color is off, technically it's a mess. However, you can take pretty nice pictures with which you can impress your friends.

I really am a snob, I really like to shoot with great equipment, but sometimes, it's more about the shot itself, than the equipment. Try this: focus on the shot, instead of on the equipment. Get the lamest camera you have and shoot with it. Shoot anything, let go... I'll do the same.

This shot was taken in Lisbon at night, with an iPhone camera. No sidewalks were harmed in taking this picture...

Tomato Salad

I think that food is a wonderful subject to shoot. For one, you can arrange it as you see fit. And secondly, it doesn’t get bored while you rearrange it for 100th time.

One photographer said something like: “shooting is 5% pressing the shutter and 95% rearranging furniture”.

I don’t shoot things that involve furniture that much, but I understand what he means. I also understand why it’s easier to shoot professional models than say, your friends or family. They get paid to do it, so they’d better do it properly. That is, if they want to get paid again.

Light is also very important for food photography, I’m a profound believer that you cannot take a bad picture, if the light is excellent. I remind myself constantly of that, when I’m shooting. I pay more and more attention in order to have the best light possible.

It has happened, on occasion, to take my camera out and just give up after two or three shots due to the light being so bad.

This picture was taken with a digital SLR in a restaurant in Egypt (I think), and it’s a sort of fancy tomato salad.

Spice Bags

I like spices. Not only in food, but also in markets. They provide a huge range of colors and smells and really elevate the experience of going through the market.

This photo was taken at the market in Cairo. Spices are really cheap there and they provide yet another opportunity to argue the prices with the people selling them.

I love the way the short depth of fields puts some focus on the first two bags. It really adds some dimension and the sensation of "neverendingness" (sorry ´bout that) to the spice bags.

This was taken with a digital SLR.

The Fallen King

This picture reminds me of a fallen king in a game of chess. It's just a salt shaker.

I liked the way the available light enhanced these two objects. This photo was taken in available light with a very fast lens (50mm F1.4).

These lenses are mandatory for any photographer (my opinion). There are two main reasons for that.

The first reason has to do with the fact that 50mm is how we (as humans) perceive the world. So, photos taken with 50mm lenses are very close to our own view of how things "look".

The second reason is that it's a very fast lens. So you can take picture in situations that would otherwise be unphotographable. You can take pictures in dinner parties or bars, with little available light and without flash.

I also love the shalow depth of field that comes with having a big aperture. I take most of my photos wide open, as I love this effect that much.

This photo was taken with a digital SLR.

The traveler

As a testament that I spend too much time on airports, I have a great collection of photos that are taken in and around the "airport life".

A lot of the travels are done during the night, or in the wee hours of the morning. This was taken at Schiphol airport, as the sun was rising in the horizon. I love the faceless people against the sunny background.

Airports have always held a great deal of fascination for me. I love the fact that people from all over the world gather in these relatively small spots on the map. Such an opportunity for great stories!

This was taken with a Canon digital SLR.

Cat in pain

I love animals, so I take a lot of pictures. Contrary to what one might think, cats in Egypt are not that common. Of course you have cats (probably a gazzilion of them, more or less).

This one was pretty battered. I took this picture in Khan el Khalili with a digital camera.

Woman and dog holding each other

Although it's an issue that raises some controversy, many people regard their pets as family. I know I do - and I have a substantial amount of pets by some standards - as does my wife. 

This woman was holding her dog and demonstrating that she really loves him. This is something that the animals (especially dogs) will always do better than people.

In the picture the dog doesn't even seem to care, but they do. It's just because the dog could stay like that, held by its companion, forever. 

I think only a dog can really express what unconditional love really is.

I like the fact that the chains and the links in the chains represent some metaphor for the connection between the woman and the dog.

This picture was taken with a Canon digital SLR. 

XI Sky

If it was not for the fact that it would be boring, after some time, I'd shoot the sky a lot more than I do now.

i can't really explain how much I love the sky. Just the blue, and the coulds. It's really something special. 

I feel sorry for my friends that live in countries were the sky is never (or seldom) this blue.

This picture was shot in a park in Lisbon. Actually, it could've been taken anywhere, for that matter, that's another great thing about the sky. 

I just love it that airplanes, going to their destinations, have left some marks in the sky. These marks make up the roman numeral for 11 ("XI"). 

This picture was taken with a Canon digital SLR. 

The crying man

Someone once said that photography is nothing more than "organized lying". 

I find that to be true, the more pictures I take. 

You see, at first, one believes that photography documents. It simply picks up whatever it is that is in front of the lens. 

This is true, to some extent, however this changes in time. The more pictures you take, the less you "document" and the more you "convey". You no longer capture what's in front of your lens. You organize what you see into a picture that you first conceived in your mind.

Granted, no picture is ever what you designed, not exactly. There are always surprises. The less time you have to organize the picture, the more surprised you'll be. 

The next step is to manipulate. Not the environment, but what you see. You can conceive of such a strategy as to make it easier for the picture you want, to happen.

For example, the tittle of this photo does not represent what was happening. The man is not crying. Not really. He is actually laughing with a woman (presumably his wife) but she's not in the picture. 

I chose to hide the woman and only show the man. The couple in the back stands as an akward witness to what's going on. 

This is what the camera captured, yes, but only after I've decided what to show of the situation plus the time I waited for the right thing to happen. 

This was taken with a Leica camera and the film is Ilford, HP 400 I believe. Really didn't care for it that much. I'd rather shoot Delta, which is the only film I shoot from Ilford. 

Lovers watch the Nile

There is still imense social pressure in Egypt. Even beyond the obvious differences, there are underlying social agreements that have to be observed in every day life.

Lovers, for instance, have to maintaing a high degree of respect for each other, physically at least. One does not see lovers kissing in public in Cairo. Therefore, in order to build on the respect needed for the foundation of a great life-long relationship, lovers tend to go out and do long strolls along the Nile.

This is such a big part of Cairo landscape, that you can't help but to be confronted with this obvious opportunity to do some photographs.

This couple is sitting along the Nile, gazing into the landscape and maybe dreaming of things to be. Maybe a day in which they can share their love freely and not have to make excuses for a light touch or a kiss.

This picture was taken at dusk (my favourite time to shoot) with a medium-format LTR camera. Old and beaten, but still very good camera.

(Sorry, I just realized this was taken with the Canon digital SLR. It was the square format that I sometimes crop my pictures into that threw me off. My russian LTR takes some godd pictures, but I doubt it that it could've come up with something like this. Again, sorry for the mistake.)

Stranded boat...

This picture was taken in Alcochete, a small village near Lisboa. When the tide flows, the small fishing boats are stranded on the shore. This boat is tied to the pier. Looks overkill when you see it stranded.

This was taken with a Leica M6 and film.

The link to the "Missing Link"...

A few days back, I posted an image of some school kids in Cairo. This picture was taken in the citadel.

(You can check it here) http://mrcrossphotographyt.blogspot.com/2009/03/missing-link.html

Luck has it that my dear friend David (whom I turned to the dark arts of wasting money away on photography) took a picture of me and the situation. The really fun part is that he took the shot in the *exact same moment* I was taking the "Missing Link" picture!

There's another cool aspect of it, which is that David also features in the original picture as he is taking my picture. This is some sort of weird "picture-in-picture meets mise-en-scéne" situation.

It's also my first "behind the shoot", kinda' thing.

This picture was taken with a digital SLR (that I convinced David to buy... sorry David!)

Dry plant on the beach...

I really like the feel of film. Even though digital is getting better and better, film still has the upper hand in some aspects. The most relevant is dynamic range.

Film will beat digital in range, hands down.

This picture was taken on the beach, where I go to walk my dog, along with my wife. I really like the beach, but after a while, there's really not that much to photograph. At least, not that you haven't photographed before.

I really like how this pictured turned out, really sharp and crisp. This was taken with a beaten and old Russian rangefinder camera. Black and white film, probably Fuji or Ilford, I'm not sure.