Joker
This is my entry for the #monomad challenge
| Category | Monochrome Portraiture |
| Settings | 1/25 sec | f/1.4 | ISO 400 | 25mm (50mm FF equivalent) |
| Camera | Olympus OMD EM1 Mark 2 |
| Lens | Panasonic 25mm f/1.4 Prime |
| Location | Outside Embankment Tube Station, London, UK |
First off, let me explain why the image title is "Joker" as it doesn't appear to fit. When I was photographing the man I asked his name, he replied "Joker, and I'm not joking" and then he showed me a credit card with his name clearly printed on it.
Now about the day. I was inspired to go out and shoot some street photography after reading a little of Eric Kim's blog and I'd set myself a few challenges to try and overcome the fear I have of street photography. They were as follows.
- Use just one prime lens
- Get in close
- Engage with people
Before arriving at Embankment Station, I had fulfilled these but I did not know the best was yet to come. I was about to go into the station to catch a train home when I heard the most wonderful singing voice, so I went to investigate. The following photograph shows the scene I came across.
I started shooting loads and was carried away into the music and the moment. The singing lady's name is Cristaly and a little later I had a chat with her and learned she was from the USA and very charming. She had the singing voice of an angel, I don't like to admit it, but I was almost in tears and had to step away for a few moments to recompose myself.
At some point during these proceedings I spotted Joker as a member of the audience that had gathered round, the following image shows this.
Isn't that a face just begging to be photographed? A little later I plucked up the courage to go speak to him and ask if I could take his picture. Oh joy of joys, turned out he's a photographer and had no objection to my request. It was evening time and the light was getting low, so I placed him under a low street light attached to the brick building of the train station, this you can see in the image below.
I did not want this as a typical street shot, so I spent some time editing in Lightroom and Photoshop to make the final image. I've displayed this again below to make it easier for you to see the before and after editing. Most of the editing involved dodge and burn techniques to even out the light in the top left corner and emphasize that wonderful moustache. I used Nik Silver Efex Pro to convert to monochrome and Topaz Detail to emphasize facial details from within Photoshop. Finally, with the image re-imported into Lightroom, I used the Split Toning section to add the sepia tone.
Thanks for reading
Richee