My entry for the #monomad challenge
I love shooting people-either portraits or just slice of life. I think monochrome really suits this genre. I am no pro and have no studio or lighting -I have just tried to capture people in an image that says something about them.
Some people don't like getting shot-others love it.I guess this shot says it all.
It is a bit of a challenge to just walk up to people you may never have met and ask them if you can shoot them. If you are honest about why you want to take a shot and as to where you will post it most people are ok with that. I usually show them some folders of shots or posts-like these- so they see I am a keen photographer. Some say no-you have to respect that.
Some of these shots are of people I know which makes it easier-but even then if they aren't used to having their photo taken they can freeze and the shot looks plain forced-the magic is not there. If you let them do something they like doing in an environment where they are comfortable, and just shoot away as they do it, a good shot can result.Also some basic lighting and shading can make or break a shot- little things like time of day,position of the sun,indoor shadows,which part of subject and which "side" works best.For me one of the best portrait tips is to use boken effect to highlight subject by blurring background-but don't overuse as all your shots will look the same.
Here are a few images that made the cut for me as far as capturing something special about the subject. Again I'm no pro so no fancy studio set up portraits.
This is the owner, chef and proud father who owns my local cafe.He and his wife bring their two under 5 girls to work in the mornings and weekends where they have a kid's play area for them and their clientele's kids.This is their latest baby boy.Talk about multi tasking!
The next few shots are just of people I know or don't, taken where and when I found them-I think each one really tells a story.
This is a friend of mine who wanted a shot of him and his 17 yr old son-who is obviously getting to cool for a hug from dad !
This was a busy night market-I asked the owner if I could take some shots and this one really shows a lovely moment between him and the Dad and daughter.
My friend Mario-very camera shy-this is my attempt at a portrait-not givin much away.
I asked if I could just take a few shots while he was in his happy space and got a much better representation of his personality.
My friend Eve is a great photographer and loves it behind the lens.
But ask to take a shot of her and this is the best I could get!
This was also a tough subject to shoot-had to be very fast before the cat ran away-the look says it all.
This shot captures the dynamics between these two friends in their workplace.
Finally a portrait of my Mum on her 90th birthday-god bless !
So that's it.They may not be the best technically but these shots do it for me in the quest to catch a piece of a person's(or cat's)personality. Thanks for watching!
Lastly a personal observation. I am relatively new to posting here but it seems to me that if I post on say Photography Lovers with a colour photo posting I get some posts with relatively low votes but high HBD's and Hivepower-because of a whale or two adding their weight to the equation(Thanks whales!)
When I post on Black and White esp.for #monomad I seem to get some posts where large numbers of people vote-for which I am honoured-you are all such good photographers and I love the posts you put up!-but the HBD's and Hivepower stay relatively low despite the large voter numbers. This is because with a few notable and regular exceptions-(thanks whales !-you know who you are)whales seem to be rare voters on Black and White. I love monochrome -for me it is my favoured medium for some types of images and is the origin that colour photography morphed from. Maybe whales don't visit B+W because they prefer or only visit colour image communities.-I don't know.All I can say is come on whales-show us monochrome lovers some love!
If you want to share your opinion on this feedback would be great-I may be totally wrong-as I said I am a relative newcomer to these great photo lover's communities.
Thanks for watching!
All photos shot on Huawei P30 Pro.