My First "How to Take Better People Photos" Tip

Unless you are very lucky, I believe it that is very difficult, if not impossible, to get good candid street photos of people with a simple "point and shoot" digital camera. You want to learn how to take better pictures because you feel that you are a good observer of the world around you, especially of the human element, and would like to document your worldview through images of your own making. However, it is highly unrealistic to expect your "perfect subject doing the perfect thing at the perfect moment" to wait for you while you hold your pocket-sized silver electronic whirring gizmo up in the air and move it around while looking at the viewing screen! You may get lucky and get a great "grab shot" with a digital point and shoot, but if you are serious about street photography, what you really want to do is to increase the odds in your favor of getting a great result every time you push the shutter button. The good news is that this can be done with a digital camera, but YOU WILL HAVE TO TAKE THE TIME TO LEARN HOW TO USE AND ACQUIRE A DSLR --- i.e., a "digital single-lens reflex" camera with an optical "see through the lens" viewfinder (screen viewing is still there, but it's how you see your results, not how you take your picture!) Your attention (eye) should never move away from your subject! Classically, the finest or most famous pictures of this "street" or people type were taken with rangefinder film cameras, with aperture (size of lens opening) and shutter speeds (amount of light let in to expose the film) generally preset for the type of film and lighting conditions. The most famous street photogapher of all, Henri Cartier-Bresson, is reputed to have used only a Leica brand camera and the Leica/Leitz 50mm ("normal") lens, probably also preset at what is known as "hyperfocal" distance so that he wouldn't have to worry about taking too much time to focus. Think of it as kind of a "shooting from the hip" manoeuver, done very quickly and, in the hands of a great artist, surreptitiously. Cartier-Bresson's pictures were all shot on black and white film at what he called "the decisive moment," and he didn't want to waste time fadoodling with his equipment! Of course, he also needed luck and had to take at least two or three shots of the same subject in order to get one final picture that was good or even better. The Leica and other brands of rangefinder film cameras are far from obsolete. While newer model Leicas (and there is a digital version of the classic "M", not to be confused with any of their "Digilux" cameras) are obscenely expensive, there are older models and lenses and other brands of rangefinders available on the used market at very reasonable prices, considering the mechanical and optical quality of the equipment. Why do I recommend the Leica or other type of rangefinder film camera most of all? First big reason number one is BECAUSE THE SHUTTER IS VIRTUALLY SILENT! In plain English, this means that when you "click" the button, the camera makes no noise. Unlike SLR (single-lens reflex) film cameras with prisms and mirrors, the rangefinder has no internal parts that have to move out of the (film's) way when you shoot. When you are traveling and want to take candid photos of people, you certainly don't want their attention called to you taking their picture by a camera that makes a lot of noise, right? Of course not! Big reason number two for using a Leica or other brand of rangefinder camera (Zeiss, Contax, Konica; many like the vintage Kodak Retinas and a host of others can be had almost for "a song" nowadays) is BECAUSE THE PICTURE IS TAKEN EXACTLY WHEN YOU CLICK THE SHUTTER, IN "REAL TIME!" Therefore, even though the amount of time involved is minute, with a rangefinder there is more of a chance that you can catch your perfect subject doing the perfect thing at the perfect moment. NOW LET'S GET REALISTIC. You probably don't want to use film. OK, but you will have to take the time to explore the optical and image-stablization qualities of the many DSLRs that are on the market, as well as the size of the prints (enlargements) that will eventually be making of your best work. Yes, film is obsolete as much to the professional wedding photographer as it is to the average consumer, but it still takes about 20 million megapixels using a full frame digital sensor to get the quality (amount of "recorded information") that we used to get using SLR cameras loaded with rolls of ye olde print or slide film. Don't worry about what that means. Just keep in mind that the pros have the cashflow in order to acquire the highest-end digital Canons and Nikons, which they also have to replace more often. THE BOTTOM LINE: at the very least, start learning about digital SLR's, which will only improve as time goes by. Even better, in my opinion, is to check out rangefinder options. Google some photo forums and check out used equipment inventories of major dealers (like B&H Photo in New York). Even finding an old SLR film camera that hasn't been used in years and getting it cleaned and adjusted is better than using a digital point and shoot! You don't have to print out all your film photos, just develop the negatives and have a "contact sheet" made! Then can custom print and enlarge the really great one(s)!!! Enough for now. More later, with illustrated examples. Oh, and if you can afford the digital Leica M8, the company is working on an upgrade to make the shutter more silent because it isn't as quiet as the film models were...this is a big deal to certain people.

Travel Photos & People Photos

Because I am an avid amateur photographer, and fortunate to have visited and lived in many places throughout the world, I have decided to add album pages of some of my best travel photos and people photos to this site. These will include pictures from India, Israel, China, Morocco, Egypt and many others taken over the years in the U.S. (the Grand Canyon and Sedona, Taos, Alaska, Navaratri celebrations of Indian NRI Gujarati community) and Europe (London, Oxford, Scotland, Paris...). I may even try to get some of my American Southwest 3D Stereo Views uploaded, for visitor who know how to make their eyes cross in order to "freeview" pueblos and desert panoramas! I also anticipate adding photography tips and "how to take better travel picture" tips in general. The cameras I use are either my old standby Nikon F, Leica M7 rangefinder, twin-lens Rolleiflex, or the new Leica digital M8. But the tips will be relevant to anyone who simply wants better results with their camera, especially when taking street shots of people. Visitors may link to album pages that I have uploaded to date by clicking on the link above, "My Travel & People Photos." As time permits, I will add many more album pages. Visitors who wish to order copies and / or custom framed enlargements of my work for decorating their home or workplace / office spaces may e-mail me at any time to make arrangements for doing so.

The Meaning of Clothing

SEE MORE RECENT POST 2-20-09; SAME SUBJECT, MORE INFORMATIVE]
Does what we wear matter? Please watch clip on youtube from a classic, legendary Raj Kapoor film, Shree 420. It is easily searched for and found on the web under the name of the film name or the song title, "Mera joota hai japoni." In it he sings:

My shoes are Japanese, my pants are English-style
mera joota hai japani yeh patloon englishtani
The cap on my head is Russian, but my heart is Indian.
sar pe lal topi roosi phir bhi dil hai hindustani
I go out into the big wide world, I walk with my head held high
nikal pade hai khulli sadak par apna seena taane
Where does my destination lie? Where will I ever settle?
manzil kahan, kahan rukna hain uparwala jaane
The Creator up above us only knows
badte jaayen hum sailani, jaise ek dariya toofani
Like true soldiers, we forge ahead
sarpi lal topi russi phir bhi dil hai hindustani
My shoes are Japanese…
The cap on my head is Russian, but my heart is Indian.
upar-neeche neeche-upar leher chale jeevan ki
Up and down, round and round, flow the eternal waves of life
nadaan hai jo baith kinare, pooche raah watan ki
Foolish are those who sit on the sidelines, with little care for their country’s fate
chalna jeevan ki kahaani, rukna maut ki nishaani
To forge ahead is like life, to stop still is like death
sarpi lal topi russi, phir bhi dil hai hindustani
The cap on my head is Russian, but my heart is Indian
mera joota hai japani, yeh patloon englishtani
My shoes are Japanese, my pants are English-style,
sarpi lal topi russi phir bhi dil hai hindustani
The cap on my head is Russian, but my heart is Indian.

In essence, these words, "picturized" long ago by a legend of Hindi cinema, are at the heart of my current work on NRIs and globalization. More to come...

The Dutch in Hartford, Connecticut

Going Dutch: everyday I pass a sign that reads: "Hartford. 1633 Dutch Fort." Hey, wait a minute! I don't remember hearing back in grade school that the Dutch explored Connecticut before the arrival of English settlers. Or that they came to trade for furs with the Pequots and Mohegans. Of course we were told that Henry Hudson sailed for the Dutch, and that Manhattan Island was purchased for the equivalent of a jar of glass beads, but as a child what I got out of that story was 1) the Dutch were very cunning!, and 2) the Indians were very stupid! Well, of course the Indians weren't stupid, they didn't "buy" anything as far as they were concerned, and they aren't "Indians" either. But that was American history as taught circa 1958. They told me my forefathers were Pilgrims, so the only way I could explain my grandparents' Yiddish accents was by concluding that people started talking strangely when they grew old. Anyway I have started thinking about that sign. OK, so the Dutch impact in the New World ultimately wasn't so great, but worldwide, the rise and expansion of their East and West India Companies was a major factor in the emergence of the modern world system. SO --- back to the oil paintings of the Dutch 17th century "Golden Age." There's more worldwide webs of stuff in them, besides the beaver hats! And they're not exactly trivia, either, when you think about the course of world history: sugar, pepper, porcelain, tobacco, "Oriental" carpets, even the pigments for some of the paints were exotic (lapis lazuli, Indian yellow from cow urine, Indian indigo) or of New World origin (cochineal). My conclusion? We are what we eat, we are what we wear, but we are not just what we think we are when we present ourselves to ourselves and to others. We are from all over the place. We are all of us. But each of us still has to pay their own way.

Navaratri and NRIs ("non-resident Indians")

"A Home for the Indians": Each fall, Hindus all over the world celebrate Navaratri, a Goddess Festival that, on its culminating night, includes special forms of music, dance, worship, and the wearing by both males and females of their finest, most colorful traditional Indian clothing. Diaspora communities tend to have significant numbers of people whose homeland ties are to Gujarat, thus the folk "ring-dances" of garba, raas and dandiya from that Indian state are what people do mostly, in rented high-school gymnasiums all over North America. Nowadays, to the horror of their more conservative elders, a bit of Punjabi bhangra closes the evening for the benefit of the younger, American-born desis who want some cool music and dancing that is not strictly religious, to go along with a bit of flirting and lots of checking each other out. I attended my first Navaratri shortly after returning from India in the summer of '06. In the photograph, you will see a number of people in the foreground, getting ready to start another round of dancing. In the background, next to the oversized American flag but not visible in the photo, is the large Native American "Indian" emblem / mascot of the high school. To the right, you can see the sign that designates this particular high school as the "Home of the Indians." Hmm. A former student of mine told me that she has attended Navaratri celebrations in this very gymnasium for her entire life, and never noticed the signs and how ironic they are until I pointed them out to her. More intrigue and coinkidink, for your contemplation, from "the world wide web of stuff."

Bollywood and Ratatouille

Rats (and their cousins) have a lot to do with big history. Bubonic plague, for example. Everyone knows that. For millenia, the holds of ships have carried furry rodents as well as trade goods to the world's bazaar. Less well discussed is the fate of southern New England's 17th century beaver population, but their pelts and felts adorned many in the Netherlands and England at the time. Look (closely) at the paintings. Not the ones of drunks and peasants, but the ones of the power holders, accumulators of wealth, decision makers, and their women! Think (hard) about the hats worn by those risk-taking New World-making Pilgrim forefathers. Or the global icon Mickey Mouse. But I digress. Today's New York Times brings us news of a one-time Bollywood male dancer whose real job, for decades, has been that of Mumbai's (Bombay) champion rat exterminator. Gruesome and disgusting details are not withheld from the reader. And this news comes to me just days after seeing, in air-conditioned comfort, Pixar's latest, perfectly wonderful film about a rat who becomes the leading chef of a gourmet Parisian restaurant. In a local multiplex, of course (but not the one that also regularly shows a Bollywood film on one of its umpteen screens). A year ago, in Mumbai, I discovered what it meant really to perspire, and got glimpses of life among the poorest of the world's poor. They tend to inhabit lower-lying parts of the city where, when the monsoon rains come, they find themselves waist-high in water. Bombs exploded on the commuter trains. We heard testimony from people who lived in Dharavi, "the world's largest slum." These asymmetries must be considered, and taken into account. Lear's madness brought him naked, flailing, into the rain, where he saw truth and wished "to show the heavens more just." Are we mad enough?

Mumbai / Bombay Dabbawallahs

Popeye's Pekinese Palak: Documenting the "world wide web" of stuff is fun, but it takes long years of research, filled with intervals of serious contemplation! As evidence, I present two photos. The first is of "Popeye's Fried Chicken" in Beijing, taken by me in 2001 (you know the place, it's right next door to "Kenny Rogers' Roasters"). The man in the Popeye suit is Chinese, of course, but that doesn't matter. The second photo, from 2006, is of one of Mumbai's (Bombay) famous dabbawallahs, the guys who deliver thousands of hot lunches in "tiffens" throughout the city to people who wouldn't be caught dead eating American fast food. Notice, however, the detail of the red lunchbag --- it's Popeye! Big deal, you say? Well, if you ask me, these two pictures suggest that at the very least, there are important nuances to globalization. As I marveled at China's new wealth and the replacement of Chairman Mao's images with those of Colonel Sanders, I asked myself: "Who am I to tell Chinese my age (or anyone for that matter) that they 'shouldn't' be eating American fast food?" While my family was happily/unhappily gobbling up the benefits of life in post-war suburban America, these people were getting rotten teeth and stunted growth from three years of national mass starvation! As for the lunchbag --- probably made in China? What's inside is more important. And people in India knew the virtues of spinach millenia before the muscle-bound sailor made his appearance in our comics and cartoons. I think. Now I have to do some research to find out where spinach was first cultivated and consumed...