Posts Tagged Street
China
So I spent 2 weeks in Beijing, Shanghai, Macao and Hong-Kong.
I spent another week trying to sort out the 1500 pictures and select the ones I want to post here. I came up with 10 I felt like sharing here. Here they are:
Part of my legs hanging over part of the great wall. It was freezing cold (I’m not that accustomed to snow anymore) but the clear sky offered good visibility. I visited the wall a day before they closed it down for Obama, so I didn’t miss out on one of the world’s great wonders. Following is a picture of a woman selling whatever in the Summer Palace:
From Beijing I continued to Shanghai where I met up with a friend. Slightly warmer there, but the visibility was terrible. Foggy sky throughout my stay there. Above is the best I managed to produce of the river side view that no Shanghai picture collection would be complete without. Below, a photo of a man practicing his symbols on the park’s path using water, slowly fading away:
Here we have a photo of a small alley (above) and a kid (below, even though I’m stating the obvious here), just before he offered me the gummy snake he is holding:
For the next 3 photos, I remembered to try and play a bit with some long exposure. Since I didn’t quite carry a tripod with me, I tried to place the camera each time on a table, garbage bin or anything somewhat stable and hold it steady while I take the 2 second photo. The results are actually not that bad. So here we have a Shanghai major street, the Venetian Hotel in Macao and Hong Kong’s river side view, just before the light show (which was very boring and hardly worth the wait actually) started:
I’ll conclude with another mandatory picture of Hong Kong from the Peak:
All in all, this has been an amazing vacation. This is my first visit to China. And I know I’ve only seen it’s (amazing) urban side, missing out on many things this place has to offer, but I’ve experienced a new culture – and quite liked it.
Lastly, I will use this opportunity to introduce Lucille 2 (not sure of the name yet…), my brand new Canon 50D. She was purchased on my final day in Hong Kong, so actually you still can’t see any photos taken with her. But I promise good things will be arriving soon…
Acoustic Heroes
Everything starts somewhere.
Usually it starts small. An idea. A conversation. A meeting. A gathering of several people with all the Guitar Hero equipment (except for a PS3, TV, amplifiers or anything which produces sounds other than their vocal chords) performing in the middle of the street.
It sounded like it could be a really cool thing to see, or daft as hell. So last Friday we went down to Rothschild avenue to see to the first Acoustic Heroes show, so we can judge for ourselves.
Acoustic Heroes Concert
It seemed like a nice chance to let my camera out for some fresh air (as well as also holding a Nikon in my hand for the first time in my life). But as it turned out, we (that means Efrat and Danna) did a little more than just judge. Having to make up for no sound guitars and hardly heard drums, the singers had to work harder. And with no playlist, there were several “so what shall we sing now?” pauses (with occasional suggestions from the viewers).
Acoustic Heroes - Making money
As you can see, entertaining the public can help you raise money. I think enough was made to cover the parking costs.
For more info on this experience (plus a video!), visit Ironia and Ehudk.com.
Acoustic Heroine
All in all, I had fun. And I can’t wait for the next show.
Street photography
Apparently it’s not just taking a photo in the street.
The way I see it, street photography usually shows movement, like someone walking. Usually the subject either has another subject completing it (like someone else walking opposite, or a big street ad). These photos are always precise. Most of the times, the person photographed doesn’t know that they are being captured at all (or at least – until it is too late for them…). Oh, and it’s almost always in black and white. Just google “Street photography” for images and you’ll get a clue…
We set out with Felix Lupa to Alenby street in Tel Aviv. I’ll admit, there were many times when I took out my tele lens to photograph people from far away, so they won’t know I’m even there. But this was different. Walking around with my camera casually held in the palm of my hand, and taking photos without bringing the camera up to look through the viewfinder. Hardly looking at the LCD screen to see the result. This was challenging because you need to set all the parameters before hand. But most of all, this was exciting and disturbing at the same time. This seems to me like voyeurism at it’s best.
I’m guessing street photography isn’t for everybody. I’m not sure if it suits me. But I did manage to get some nice shots there. My favorite I took while walking, holding the camera in my swinging hand:
Again, a new photo technique (for me) which I’m glad to have experienced. I’ll have to do it again some time. But next time I’ll prepare better for this (never forget your water bottle…)