For four months I wondered why I couldn't summon the energy to photograph people. It wasn't because there was a lack of opportunity, more I think that every time we met someone they became lifelong friends and the question never arose!
Didier was one of them, although neither of us spoke a word of each other's language at the time. We chatted for twenty minutes or so after he caught me photographing his corn stash. He lives in the little village of Choisey, in the manner of his forebears, with neither heating or ill humour.
I should have concentrated more on this photo, I wanted to reflect the animation of our conversation, and the nature of it, but I tried to hard at a shutter speed that was too ambitious. He told us of the centuries it took to build the church in the village, and of how many generations had lived in his house before him, but we didn't understand enough to make sense of the conversation, any more than he will make sense of the Christmas Card from Australia when it arrives.
6 comments:
G'day. Bonjour.
But it does reflect your aims. Really.
Didier comes across as rustic, friendly and most approachable. His body language plus the blurring give animation to what otherwise have appeared to be someone simply posing for the camera. The line of impatiens is just terrific.
Did I say "Welcome back"?
Welcome back.
Thanks, I think I'm back!
For a few months at least, although I'd like to finish this project with a bit more urgency than I started it!
Welcome back! I agree with Julie, the movement captures the animation of the conversation and his character definitely shines through.
I ended up taking a lot more than I thought I had. The 100 Strangers exercise definitely gave me the confidence to do it and the ability to see the shot. I didn't always ask but they were well aware of what I was doing and could have stopped me easily, had they wanted.
Supplementary question Peter - I'm looking for a (preferably free) site to load my Africa shots for people to view them. Have been using Webshots which has unlimited free storage but their ads drive me up the wall and they now have a ghastly red background to the slideshow with a massive ad at the bottom. I know you have stuff on Flikr - do you pay for the extra storage? What do you think of it? Do you, (or Julie or Cara, or anyone else) recommend anything else. Need lots of storage.
Hi Ann, the free sites I've used have all had quite tiny limits on them. Flickr's terms of service is set out here:
http://www.flickr.com/help/limits/
100mb per month and the last 200 photos uploaded is the score, although they don't destroy anything so if you want to access your earlier uploads you can pay the $25 per year (US).
I've found it terribly easy to use Flickr Uploadr while offline. I load and type comments on 60 or 80 pics at a time, then upload when I have access to the web.
I suspect Picasa has similar limits too, but I haven't got too far into that. Picasa is where all our blog photos are stored.
Welcome Back!
This guy looks like a lot of fun - he's got that glint in his eye.
Post a Comment