This past weekend I signed up for an intensive photography workshop. It was so awesome to challenge myself and get lots of in-person feedback. Something I have been desperately wanting for a long time.
I didn't love my photos from this weekend, but I did learn a lot and I made some decisions.
Here are my favorites:
Having a little fun exposing for the inside of the shop and letting the outside go overexposed.
Did it again for this one. As my instructor, Stefen Chow, suggested, this would be interesting in a series.
These next few photos are the ones I am the most proud of. We were given challenges to go out onto the streets and take interesting photos as if we were 'real' photojournalists. At first I panicked. Even though there were other times in my life when I was feeling particularly bold, and I took plenty of photo of strangers, I wasn't feeling it today, on demand.
It was the second time that day that I started psyching myself out, but then I decided to pull it together and take the advice of my instructor - just start taking pictures and get permission from my subject's body language. So, I did just that. I got yelled at a couple of times, but it's not like I haven't survived that multiple times before. Then after I got their non-verbal permission, I pushed it. I kept taking photos and got closer.
This group of construction workers allowed me to take loads of photos. So many so that I left and came back a more than once.
I know I didn't push myself as far as I could have simply because they never said 'no'. I didn't know exactly what I was trying to take photos of after a while. And my camera was frustrating me beyond belief. The Tamron lens I have was having some trouble communicating with my Canon camera. It was also having trouble focusing in the low light so I was missing many photos. And to top it all off the lens went soft just a few months after I bought it so many of my photos that were appearing in focus by the sensor were in fact completely soft & blurry. SO FRUSTRATING! It is finally time for new equipment!
This is my favorite photo of the entire weekend. Who doesn't love the frame within a frame? And I love his bright yellow hat and winning smile.
This guy has great bed head.
And I love that he is reading on site. And it goes against the stereotype of the typical Chinese migrant construction worker. You certainly wouldn't expect one of them to be reading on site. Reece is an avid reader, so readers are close to my heart.
This family just about found me. I was tired and sat down to rest my bones for a few minutes yet I kept taking photos. I think her parents couldn't resist the camera. I was half-way surprised they even noticed me.
I think she could have resisted the camera!
But she came around eventually. What a cutie!
And later we had some low light/night time photography practice. We were told to take a photo of this window and this particular photo was chosen as the best one. It was a fun and spontaneous contest amongst our classmates. Too bad I didn't realize it was mine until the next day when no body claimed it and I looked through my photos and saw that it was in fact mine!
On the final day, Stefen gave us all an individual assignment. He hand chose a person for us to photograph for the entire morning. And had arranged their permission ahead of time in exchange for copies of the photos we took.
After three hours of shooting, we were to choose our ten best photos and present them in a photo essay. I was assigned a beauty salon. Of course, I was anticipating a bustling place full of women cutting & coloring hair and gossiping. What I found when I got there was quite a different scene.
These were the boys running my salon! They were very nice and took great care of me. They loved the camera and the longer I was there instead of becoming less aware of the camera and acting more natural as time went on, they got more and more into posing for the camera. They were like peacocks.
The funniest thing was that they had only one customer all morning. The rest of the time they kept washing & styling their own hair and each others' hair.
Unfortunately, my equipment failed me for this assignment too! This was a cluttered & busy place (lots of things on the walls, mirrors everywhere) with not much light and my lenses were not good at all for the conditions. I didn't like any of my photos! My tripod even failed me. It broke and is no more!
Despite my technical problems when I presented my ten photos to the class, I got some great reactions. I am not convinced, however, that it was as much due to my photos as it was due to my subjects! I definitely got the most colorful characters to photograph.
After two hours of shooting I was getting a little sweaty due to the humidity, the intermittent blow dryers and the pressure I was under. I'm sure I looked like a million bucks! I was fiddling with my camera and thinking about what else I needed to shoot during my remaining hour when I felt something pull gently at my hair. When it happened a second time I turned a little to see what was going on. Of course it was one of the guys checking out my hair. I instinctively knew what was going on. What else would it be? After all, I was in a hair salon! I just didn't want them to CUT my hair. I made that mistake the first month I moved to China.
Luckily, they just offered to wash my hair. I was taken aback a little. I promptly called Stefen to see if it was OK. Afterall, I was on an assignment and I was supposed to be shooting! I had to laugh because his first thought was the photo opportunity! He sent one of my fellow students over to capture the whole thing on film.
I had to put all vanity aside since the time I hate looking at myself in the mirror most is when my hair is wet, pulled away from my face and I am under the harsh lights of a beauty salon. And now I would be photographed looking my worst! Never mind! It is all in the name of art!
Here I am with my new friends. This is before they got a hold of my hair. They actually did a pretty nice job - all except for the excessive amounts of hair spray and styling gel they put on my bangs.
Overall the whole weekend was just fun! It solidified the fact that I LOVE photography! And I want to keep doing it and learning more. I want to get significantly better. Ideally, I want to get better NOW. How that will happen, I am not sure. But I have no doubt that it will. I may just have to be patient. But I know now that investing in a couple of great quality lenses will not be a waste on me. How I reach my photographic potential is unknown to me now, but what I do know is that photography will always be a part of me.
I almost don't understand the pull that it has over me. It is definitely my passion. And I want more!
The other surprise from this weekend was how much I enjoyed the people that I got to take photos of. It gave me the opportunity to enjoy China in a new way. The expat life I live is so far away from the average Chinese person. It was refreshing to be with the people that live here. It helped me be the happier person that I used to be. In all other places that I have lived abroad, I have never felt so separated from 'the locals' as I have living here. It was such a fun excuse to be with them. It feels so much more natural and authentic. It sounds so cliche but I don't know how else to describe it. What a fun way to experience China.
It sounds as though you had a terrific time! I think the shots of the constrction workers are my favourites, but the light through the window is pretty cool.
Posted by: Ruth | May 06, 2010 at 08:00