Confidence

Photography is best when it can depict moods and emotions. This is best achieved  when a rapport is reached with the subject. No sniping, no telephotos; only human interaction. It is then that the real photos are taken. These women were graduating from a Montessori teacher reparation course run by Catholic Charities, my client. With a little interaction I was able to capture their state of self assurance.

New type of post / photo lesson

I will from time to time post images with accompanying hints and information that I deem to be helpful to aspiring photographers. I'm just trying to share some of my knowledge. 

  What we have here are portraits all done  in a hurry using only one portable on camera strobe. The trick is of course to use a bracket that places the flash unit above the lens and high enough to prevent red eye. This also prevents annoying shadows especially if the subject is  not too close to a wall. In one of the images there is a shadow but it could not be helped because the subject, sitting on a wheel chair, was very close to the rear wall. My bracket of choice is the so called Stroboframe that is easily available in most camera stores. It is a cheap items that makes life very easy. The camera was the Fuji S-2 Pro and these are out of camera JPEGS. Very few cameras were able to produce such great color without post production. There is some color contamination as the room was light wit florescent lights, a most difficult type of illumination that very few cameras' white balance can cope with.

The power of the Leica, candid shots.

Naturally the camera does not take the photo nor does a new and better camera make one a better photographer. Nevertheless, shooting with a range finder camera like the Leica with its superb optics and handling makes one take shots that would be more difficult with lesser cameras. The ability to see outside the frame, unlike with a  SLR where  one sees through a tunnel, makes composition much more hands on. I always say that with the Leica one is looking out of a window. These three shots, taken at different venues all were shot with the 50mm Summicron F 2 a marvelous lens. All hand held and all without flash using the famed Tri-X developed in D-76 full strength to reduce contrast and smooth out some of the grain.
The top photo is of an Haitian artist in Brooklyn, the middle one is of a pediatric nurse at Mary Immaculate Hospital, now closed, and the bottom one is of Mother Theresa when she visited Newark. I always liked the contrast between the well fed bishop and the frail nun.