Depression Does Funny Things To My Mind…But Im Better Now
I wrote this post around the 26th of January during a bout of depression and its been sitting round gathering dust as a draft since then… It didn’t help that this was when Rollei was having issues and before it went away for repairs, but I didn’t know that at the time and really that was only part of what was going wrong…
Sometimes you have to just give yourself a break… I’m better now…Most of the time 🙂
The project mentioned below is still on the back-burner.
Ramblings of a Frustrated Wellington Street Photographer… And Some Bad Pics To Make my Point.
OK… It’s a new year..time to make some changes and try to take things to the next level right?
Sounds like a plan doesn’t it?
Set some goals in photography for the year…think up some good projects…maybe finally get round to having an exhibition…
Yeah that sounds great! (this is starting to sound like an internal dialogue… I thought so too… Me too… Just get to the damn point!)
So I have thought up a great project that could be done on the street as well as having a studio component to it as well… Unfortunately it requires talking to people on the street as well as approaching people to come and do some studio shots. I’m not the most confident person when it come to approaching people and asking them to take their photo (I usually go ninja styles with the Rollei) and this has manifested in me putting so much pressure on myself that I am having problems even taking the normal street shots that you may have become accustomed to seeing here.
What is the best way to approach someone on the street? Anyone got some advice that they would like to impart?
I keep making excuses in my head why not to start this project (Too bright, Too dark, Wrong film etc…) but essentially I need to JFDI (Just Freaking Do It!) Whats the worst that could happen? They could say no… Is that so bad in the scheme of things? I’m sure I would survive physically if not with a little mental scarring.
Here goes a collection from the last film I shot which illustrates how far this is throwing me off my game ( I usually get 1 or 2 of these type of shots a roll but this is seriously a new record low for 1 roll of film. At least the exposures were all pretty good). 🙂
Maybe I should give up and take up something like synchronized swimming.
Camera Shake at its worst
Nice Wall
Repeat after me “I must not walk and Shoot at the same time”
Blur at 1/250th of second
I admit that I re-shot this one and the shot was OK 🙂
Rolleiflex 2.8 E, Ilford HP5+ 400 ISO Film, CanoScan 9000F Scanner.
Chilln
Making the most of the last warm weather before the swift descent into winter…
Rolleiflex 2.8 E, Ilford HP5+ 400 ISO Film, CanoScan 9000F Scanner.
In Between Buses
Lots of In betweens going on here…
Rolleiflex 2.8 E, Ilford HP5+ 400 ISO Film, CanoScan 9000F Scanner.
Post Zombie Apocalypse Wellington Part 2
This series was shot at the same time as yesterdays Rollei shots but with a 19-35mm on my Nikon F5. A much wider angle of view than the Rollei but somehow I like the square images better.
Nikon F5, Tokina 18-35mm Lens, Ilford HP5+ 400 ISO Film, CanoScan 9000F Scanner.
Post Zombie Apocalypse Wellington
Ok the title is slightly sensationalist but came about from a friend mentioning that there was no one around in the city on Easter Friday and that it was like a Zombie Apocalypse had occurred.
Stuff like that makes me think… I have done some stuff over the years to take people out of the cityscapes (long exposures, multi stitch images) but not really gotten a truly deserted shot that I liked. So when Samantha woke up at 5am on Easter Sunday I decided to go out and try to get some (after Amanda had been woken up).
I left the house at about 730 and 30 seconds later it started to rain so I went back home and got an umbrella and the extra cable release I had forgotten and headed out again.
By the time I had parked the car (plenty of parking at 8am on a public holiday) it was still raining but not too badly so I took a couple of shots on Cuba street then the rain stopped.
There were still a few people around so for lots of the shots I had to wait for a bit and 1 image had to have someone I didn’t see taken out but other than that they are all as taken.
I like the way my eye looks for shapes that might be people since this is how I am used to seeing this scene.
Rolleiflex 2.8 E, Ilford HP5+ 400 ISO Film, CanoScan 9000F Scanner.
Smile
Smile during shop hours 🙂
Rolleiflex 2.8 E, Ilford HP5+ 400 ISO Film, CanoScan 9000F Scanner.
Urban Jungle
The council has put in free WiFi internet on the waterfront of Wellington, probably for the Rugby World Cup later in the year, so there has been an increase in computer users in this area.
I kind of like the comparison of the real trees and the large pole structures as well as the fact that there is no one else in the image apart from the computer user.
Rolleiflex 2.8 E, Ilford HP5+ 400 ISO Film, CanoScan 9000F Scanner.
St James Sleeper
This guy was asleep outside the St James Theatre on Courtenay Place. This is the same place where I took the image of the drunks the day after.
Rolleiflex 2.8 E, Ilford HP5+ 400 ISO Film, CanoScan 9000F Scanner
Mad Hatters Tea Party?
Outside Armageddon/Comicon… I have just finished reading Alice in Wonderland to my daughter and this shot reminded me of the Queen of Hearts with a gesture of “Off with your head!”
Rolleiflex 2.8 E, Ilford HP5+ 400 ISO Film, CanoScan 9000F Scanner.
The Kind Of Shot I Want to Be Taking More Of
A shot of a couple of drunks on Saturday morning.
This is definitely the type of shot that I want to be taking more of, but constant don’t take due to being afraid to ask.
As it turned out the guy on the right asked me to take his photo after he saw my Rolleiflex and commented that it was a “cool camera”
Rolleiflex 2.8 E, Ilford HP5+ 400 ISO Film, CanoScan 9000F Scanner.
Dragon Boat Festival
This is the second post from the Dragon Boat Festival from the 19th of March (oppps is it really a month since this was on?). This is the day after I was taking photos with the Rolleiflex, I decided to take my Nikon F5 with my 80-200 f2.8 and get a bit closer to the action.
I had scoped out the best position to be the day before and just before the first race I went down under the bridge onto a floating pier and lined myself up with the middle of the only lane close enough to shoot down. Amusingly about a minute after I was in place one of the Dominion Post photographers came along… He stood on one side of me… Then the other side…Then back to the first side… At this point I was grinning like the Cheshire Cat (yes I have just finished reading Alice in Wonderland to Emily) as he stood beside me with his 500mm telephoto cause Id snaked his spot (small things amuse me).
I just noticed as I was putting this post together that the girls on the bridge in image Dragon Boat 4 are the same girls in their bot in image Dragon Boat 7 and 8… Weird.
Nikon F5, 80-200mm f2.8 Lens, Ilford HP5+ 400 ISO Film, CanoScan 9000F Scanner.
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