Wednesday 4 May 2016

On Taking Photographs

I've never really understood why some photographers are seen as stars. I mean, even drones can take fabulous photos. And, there’s the Hubble Space Telescope that has been sending back gorgeous pictures from the cosmos. So why does it take a photographer …?

And, needless to say, the more pictures you take the better your chances are that some good ones will result from your endeavours. Moreover, I've over time come to realise that photography is not so much about the result but about experiencing life as it unfolds. To me, that is.

Recently, during a month-long stay in the Brazilian town of Santa Cruz do Sul, I regularly passed through the same side street where I felt irresistibly drawn to the colourful boundary fence of a geriatric clinic. Years ago, I had passed many times through this street yet I had no recollection of these colours that now seemed to hold me in their grip. Maybe they were new and hadn't been there before? Or had I simply overlooked them?
I wanted pictures of these colours and so I decided to take my camera along. My walks through town did change for now I had a focus. And, it now mattered what time of the day I passed by the clinic for the morning light allowed other pictures than the midday sun. We all know this, of course, yet what I had not anticipated was the curiosity I felt each day: Would it be sunny or overcast? What colours and shapes would await me? Needless to say, the boundary fence colours did not change from one day to the next but the light that would fall on them was every time different, the mood I was in was never the same, and where I would point my camera to wasn't defined either.

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