Dubai Street Photography from 2015
Dubai seems to be an interesting place to shoot street photography. I think the next time I would like to concentrate more on portraiture using medium format.
Dubai street photography from a previous trip in 2015. Re-edited to be more in line with the colors that I now prefer. These were shot using a Fujifilm and the classic chrome film simulation but it has always bothered me that the skin tones always seemed too red. I’ve stopped using this film simulation for a while and do all of my color correcting in post.
Shanghai Street Photography
One thing for me that is great about shooting street is that I know I won't have to do any major retouching so the editing goes really fast once I have decided on what color or black and white feel I want.
Adding to my street photography portfolio. These were shot over a long period and recently retouched. One thing for me that is great about shooting street is that I know I won't have to do any major retouching so the editing goes really fast once I have decided on what color or black and white feel I want. I do however still always shoot in raw just in case my white balance is off or on the rare occasion I feel a photo is really good but needs some sort of serious photoshop work.
Hong Kong Street Photography
As you can see I'm really into color these days and trying hard to make this the focus of my photos. It's not an easy thing to do well as I have always felt that one of the great things about black and white is that it helps to simplify the scene so with color there is a lot more that you have to consider in the frame.
Crazy times these days but I thought I would finish up a blog post in this rare moment of peace and relative quiet. These are from an old trip shot more than 2 years ago but recently retouched when I was stuck in front of my screen drinking jet fuel espressos at 1am last week.
I really love this image, the colors as you can see are very film like.
Welcome to Hollywood where are your dreams come true.
And our eyes met for a brief moment but alas, the love was lost.
Take my money.
In my world.
As you can see I'm really into color these days and trying hard to make this the focus of my photos. It's not an easy thing to do well as I have always felt that one of the great things about black and white is that it helps to simplify the scene so with color there is a lot more that you have to consider in the frame. I'm trying to learn from the masters of color like William Eggelston who's name I had heard of before but who's work I have just recently discovered and man, it's blown me away.
Thats it for now.
Chad
Japan Street Photography
After dreaming and talking for so long about Japan and all it has to offer I was finally able to visit it and the country did not disappoint. A little bit of everything but especially interesting for me was where the old meet the new. A place that successfully mixes traditional dress, buildings and way of life from hundreds of years ago with vending machines on every street corner that sell everything you could imagine has to be admired in my opinion.
After dreaming and talking for so long about Japan and all it has to offer I was finally able to visit it and the country did not disappoint. A little bit of everything but especially interesting for me was where the old meet the new. A place that successfully mixes traditional dress, buildings and way of life from hundreds of years ago with vending machines on every street corner that sell everything you could imagine has to be admired in my opinion.
I have read before that the local people's attitude towards foreigners can be racist but I found nothing but respectful and polite people. Of course all the good things you hear about the food are all true and the one regret was that we were not able to simply spend more time tasting more dishes but this alone is a good enough reason to return.
For a street photographer the country is also a paradise of interesting and unusual subjects and although I never went to Tokyo I hear its the place to grab your wide angle lens and get some great shots. From a photography point of view this trip was a bit frustrating and I will explain why. Originally my plan was to shoot both digital and 35mm film only black and white but when I arrived I started to feel that color was the way to go so I shot both. At the end of it I had a whole lot of crap or average black and white film photos which I was disappointed with. Also for me I am really trying to to minimize my travel kit, in fact it is one of the reasons I was drawn to Fuji for the smaller sizes and excellent picture quality but on this trip I found myself lugging around 2 cameras and five lenses of which I probably used two. So, from now on I've told myself to choose before hand if I am shooting digital or film and stick to one camera and one lens. Ok ok, two bodies with a lens each and thats all!
Although we saw plenty of beautiful temples and shrines you will see that I don't have many photos of them here. it's not that I didn't take any, rather that I didn't take any that you couldn't already find anywhere on the internet so instead this post will look more like a street photography post.
I may do a second post just to show you the film shots and you can give me your opinion on which was better, color or black and white.
As Always I hope you find the photos interesting
Chad
Look closely, if only I could read minds, what would these tell me?
The men in black.
For me this image could have been good if not for the car.
The ghost in the darkness. Again another potentially interesting photo missed, this time because I wasn't quick enough to change my camera settings.
Just me channelling a bit of Bruce Gilden style photography.
Botswana
A long overdue post on my trip to Botswana. Two weeks of adrenaline filled adventure. Enjoy the read and the photos.
I had the opportunity to spend 2 weeks traveling around Botswana and even though the objective wasn't to make it a photographic trip as always I had a couple of cameras with. I took the Fujifilm X-T1 with a couple of lenses and my Nikon FM2 film camera with a 50mm lens. Because I don't normally shoot wildlife, the longest lens I have is the 85mm equivalent so opportunities were a bit limited. Bear that in mind when you view the photos, it will give you an idea of how close the animals came to us. I admit that there were more than a few occasions that I experienced a bit of the old butt hole pucker, case in point was when I shot the hippo photos. It was literally a car length away from us.
Part of the reason I wanted to go on this trip was to remind myself how small and vulnerable I as a human actually am when taken in context of the awe that is nature. I think we tend to forget this very quickly when we live in cities but when you are in the middle of the bush with no one else around for kilometers and you hear a lion roar less than 50m away from you in the black of night as you sit around your fire you are reminded very quickly where you sit in the food chain.
It was also amazing to realize how we adapt to danger, case in point was one day we noticed a small hut literally made from straw with no door. When we met the locals we mentioned this and he causally said that they used to sit in the hut until one day a lion tried to eat them there so now they don't sit in that hut! There are a few other stories I have regarding danger but I'll save those for another time. Just remember, there are no fences keeping anything out so when you need to pee at night, you dangle it out the tent.
I will say that if you haven't been to Botswana then do yourself a favor and go, your life will not be the same. When you have returned and you are sitting at your desk at work months later, you will find yourself reminiscing about that trip and maybe even sometimes wondering why you haven't sold all your worldly possessions and made that your life.
Again this is a photo blog not a travel blog but I feel obliged to give you a few helpful tips if you are planning a 4x4 trip there.
Buy as much of your provisions including water, beer and fire wood outside of the country. The prices get seem to get more and more expensive the further north you travel.
Don't forget your first aid kit, when you are hours away from anyone this could save your life.
If you have a sense of direction as bad as mine, a GPS with trail maps is a must or you find yourself driving around in circles for hours in a storm.
If you are planning on going in the wet season like us, be prepared for some adrenaline fueled driving! Having more than one vehicle gives great piece of mind but we did fine just 2 guys and a Pajero.
After eating wash and store all food stuffs inside your vehicle or trailer otherwise you tend to get visits from animals that may decide you are lunch. We made the mistake of leaving a bbq grid hanging on a gazebo and went for a drive. When we returned the gazebo was completely wrecked and could only be used for scrap.
When you pull into the camp on your first night in the bush and notice your Dutch neighbour has made his bbq and eaten and is already in his tent as the sun sets, don't be so quick to mock him (see comment above regarding lion roaring at night).
Oh and finally, a fellow traveller advised us to sleep with our shoes inside our rooftop tent because the hyena tend to eat them if you leave them outside (note that we didn't actually experience this but we kept them inside just in case).
That's it for tips, the rest you can read on any website when you do your research. Now enjoy the photos.
Cheers
Chad
This was our first destination and and a taste of what was to come. See the storm approaching in the distance? Yeah we didn't think it would reach us in 10 min either.
Baobab trees
Happy elephant.
They don't call it the rainy season for nothing. We spent our late afternoons and nights being chased by storms.
Not so happy elephant.
Big boy is about a cars length away from me.
More afternoon storms.
One of the numerous flooded areas we crossed. Doesn't look too deep right? Water was up to our windshield. One of many pucker moments.
I hate the way Fuji renders foliage but in this case I have to say the colors were nearly spot on compared to what I saw. Shot with Fuji standard film simulation if I remember correct.
I havde a series of these shots. I think these are going to make some great prints.
After waiting patiently for 5 hours to shoot the sunset we were hit by gale force winds accompanied by a mother of a storm.
Goodbye Bostwana, see you soon.
Shanghai Street Photography B/W
Just a quick post before I head off to do other things. Here are a few shots that have been marinading for a while. Shot around Shanghai they show 1 side of life here. Never a dull moment on the streets, all you have to do is look out for them.
Just a quick post before I head off to do other things. Here are a few shots that have been marinading for a while. Shot around Shanghai they show 1 side of life here. Never a dull moment on the streets, all you have to do is look out for them.
Have a great week, and for those here who worked yesterday, congratulations, Monday is over and you only have 4 more days until the weekend.
I will start to post more of my street photography on my Flickr account so you can find these and more shots there. Same username, Chadwickimages.
Shanghai Streets In Colour
The Weather these days in Shanghai is trying to become semi decent an I thought it was a great excuse to go out and shoot some street again seeing as it has been a while since I've done it. Unfortunately I didn't get one decent shot, somedays it happens. It could be wrong place at the wrong time but in a city as vast as Shanghai I think it's more realistic to say that I just wasn't on my game and I wasn't looking at the city and the people through the right eyes.
The Weather these days in Shanghai is trying to become semi decent an I thought it was a great excuse to go out and shoot some street again seeing as it has been a while since I've done it. Unfortunately I didn't get one decent shot, somedays it happens. It could be wrong place at the wrong time but in a city as vast as Shanghai I think it's more realistic to say that I just wasn't on my game and I wasn't looking at the city and the people through the right eyes.
Anyway it just serves as more reason for me to get my ass out there more often and improve. I'm going to try to make it a regular thing and after looking at the results of my last session in the street using flash I've decided that I quite like the resulting motion blur so I will continue the same style for a while and see what sort of body of work I can create.
Here are a few shots that I forgot about from my last time shooting in the streets. If there are any street photography shooters here in Shanghai that follow this blog and are keen to shoot together then let me know. I'm keen to shoot with new people and discuss ideas.
Have a great weekend.
The Face Of Work.
The Face Of No Work. Don't Worry Man I Feel You.
Eye Contact.
No Eye Contact.
And Finally Spiderman.
Krabi Thailand
Beautiful and friendly Thailand. Every time I go to Thailand I enjoy it more and more. The people are always super friendly and respectful, always willing to help in anyway they can. Now trying to find something interesting and authentic to shoot becomes a little tricky when you find yourself in a tourist spot like Krabi but with the help of a great tour guide I managed to get away from the usual more well known places.
Beautiful and friendly Thailand. Every time I go to Thailand I enjoy it more and more. The people are always super friendly and respectful, always willing to help in anyway they can. Now trying to find something interesting and authentic to shoot becomes a little tricky when you find yourself in a tourist spot like Krabi but with the help of a great tour guide I managed to get away from the usual more well known places.
Although this trip wasn't purely for photography I did manage to get a few great shots as well as trying my hand at shooting 35mm film which I have been wanting to do for a long time. Shooting film alongside digital proved to be a challenge for me because the way you go about shooting each format is completely different. I found with digital I am used to shooting a lot more photos per scene but with film I really had to slow down and think about my shots. The other benefit of shooting digital is that I got instant feedback how the photo looked and obviously the same is not possible when using film. This can be frustrating but at the same time exciting. The one thing I will change for the next trip is that I will have to choose beforehand which medium to shoot, digital or film as both at the same time had me feeling like I was doing half a job for each. Next time I would like to focus on just one. Like that I will work with both the advantages and limitations and I think this will help me improve. One the the really frustrating things I found shooting with film is that I am so used to changing the ISO on the fly to achieve the look I want that I didn't give much thought to what happens when I shoot film until I have to shoot in the daytime as well as night. Digital has really made it so easy and convenient that we are spoilt for choice. With film I had to make a decision beforehand about what film speed I would use and live with whatever restrictions came with that decision. For example I was shooting Ilford HP5 Plus 400 which was great for the days but I had to make sure that before the night I had finished the roll of film and had a new one ready pushed to 1600 so that I could get that bit extra shutter speed that I needed in dark night scenes. I'm not sure how old film shooters got around this, the only thing I can think of is that they carried 2 cameras around with them with different speed films in each. Anyway, I have a long way to go on my film adventure but the bug has already bitten me.
Thanks for reading and have a great week.
Dancers Project
Just in time for your commute home. Well done you did it, Monday is finished!!! I hope this post makes your day just a little bit more interesting.
Just in time for your commute home. Well done you did it, Monday is finished!!! I hope this post makes your day just a little bit more interesting.
It's been a while since I posted so I thought I would update you on what I've been up to. I've been shooting lots for my ongoing Dancers Project. This is a long term project dedicated amongst other things, grace, beauty and energy of dancers. The project is evolving in some ways and thus I feel it could go on for a while until I am satisfied that it is complete. I think this is normal because the more time I spend with dancers the better I understand what being a dancer is all about, the more I want to show the pain, dedication and very personal need for self excellence that each dancer seems to bring to each movement and pose. Also the longer I work on this project, the more ideas and different angles I discover that I feel add to it in some way. Finally it's also important to me to bring a little of each dancers stage personality into the photo. The project has also changed in that what started off as a purely black and white idea now will be a mix of color and black and white photos. This came about after just talking to the dancers about what they do and how they see themselves.
There are so many different styles of dancing that I have not yet discovered or explored. For the moment the idea is to show as many as possible. If you are a dancer and would like to collaborate with me then feel free to contact me.
3 Summit, Lin'An
Another great place in China. The mountains are beautiful and peaceful, a far cry from the masses that inhabit the cities and towns in China. The only sounds you hear in the mist at the top of the mountain are the bells around the necks of cows.
Another great place in China. The mountains are beautiful and peaceful, a far cry from the masses that inhabit the cities and towns in China. The only sounds you hear in the mist at the top of the mountain are the bells around the necks of cows.
Down in the village the locals are friendly and welcoming. Children stare with curiosity and intrigue at any foreign face and a few badly pronounced words of Chinese gets you an explosion of laughter.
