Camera and subject

A bird for Dennis

My friend and coworker, Dennis, has inspired me with several posts over the last few months. Our daily conversations are varied and wide. Today rolled over to my desk, as we sit back-to-back, and said something like: You seem to be into the people pictures right now. Probably not an exact quote, but close enough. I considered this for a few moments and thought about what a great statement that was. Now, all I had to do was to figure out why, or at least give it some thought.

I told him that what I photograph is a factor of many things, mainly mood, situation, camera, and season. In the fall, I prefer color and fall scenes, even if they seem cliche. In the summer, I’m more apt to shoot early morning shots, mainly because of the heat and the bugs, etc. When I was shooting with the 645e, as it’s a big camera, it was very suitable for the tripod and therefore static subjects, like landscapes or cityscapes. During basketball season and indoor color shooting, certainly the D300 hits the mark.

Now, having a rangefinder or two, I can branch into areas that I’ve never really delved into before. Sure, I’ve taken photos of people on the streets, both with and without their knowledge, but I’m broadening my horizons, now. Today, I was really in a blue mood. I felt quite down and out. I knew that I needed to do something, anything. I didn’t want to go directly back to the apartment and stew in the funk. There’s a festival in town called MOJA, it’s here from September 24th through October 4th. It’s a celebration of African-American and Caribbean art. Through the time here there are many free events such as poetry readings and story tellings. Each one of them is held in small, intimate locations. Today’s poetry reading that I attended was held in a small coffee house. All told, there may have been 30 people there to listen, a full house!

Today, I wanted to find out just how quiet is the shutter of a rangefinder. Before the reading started, I found a table, sat down, had a glass of iced tea and a scone. Right before the reading started I took a couple of readings. This was going to be tough. I would be shooting at f/2 @ 1/30 second or less! This would test the rangefinder’s ability to shoot at low speed settings as well as it’s quietness.

I can certainly tell you that it’s quiet! No one even noticed as I snapped photo after photo during the poetry reading. No one! I could hear the quiet snick of the shutter, but no one even turned around. Mind you, this was in a small, intimate cafe with no conversation going at all. There was nothing but the ambient noise filtering in from the streets. I would have been certainly afraid to use my D300 in this condition. The mirror slap is quite loud and would have been very disturbing. Though I don’t know for sure, but she probably would have asked me to stop. It certainly would have been more convenient to have used the D300 because I could have cranked the ISO up to 1600 and had some light to work with; however, I had to settle for shooting with ISO 125, as I didn’t have any 400 or greater speed film with me. I’m quite excited to see what develops (pun!), but you’ll just have to wait with me. I only took 20 shots of a 36 exposure roll. I’ll see about using the rest tomorrow or Thursday.

Anyway, it’s interesting how getting another tool can expand your horizons, or perhaps change your perceptions, if you let it. BTW, today was the first ever poetry reading that I attended. Interesting. The poetry, in my opinion, wasn’t anything profound or earth shattering, however, watching the people sure was a great way to spend and hour or so. On second thought, the poetry was pretty good. She put a lot of heart into it. Who am I to say that it wasn’t good?!