Aging on the Street

(Old Ladies, Small Talk: I have one of the customisable MY settings registered with ISO 200 with the manual focus at less than 1m, which is the ususal distance I have found in going close to a subject on the street. I turned on my GX200 to the setting and set the exposure combo when I was at some 5 metres away. At the right distance, I paused slightly and shot this scene. The short focal distance diffused the background a bit)

The more pictures I have taken on the street (I'm very glad that I bought the GX200 which made this possible), the more I become aware of different faces. Young faces, old faces; pretty faces, not-so-flattering faces. People age. When aging happens, the result will not be seen for a good while, making the person less prepared for the aggregate traces appearing on the face at a certain old age seemingly at once.

At best, we are the combination of some arranged bones and skeleton, a sheet of skin and a soul. The bones will turn fragile and the skin loose as the days wear on. What is going to left in us which will give us the charm is our souls, where true beauty lie.

The following are some of the faces of different ages I have taken on the street. When I arranged the photos here, scenes of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button sprang to mind, hence the descending order.

(The Old Shop Lady: The grainy image at ISO 1600 does justice to the weathered face of this lady who was keeping a metalsmith store. This photo was taken with me pausing at the shop front and holding my GX200 at waist level)

(I saw this madam with the charateristic gray hair through the windows of the van stopping by the road junction. I held up my camera and waited for her to turn around the van, knowing that she would looking right into the camera. This photo is the answer to my guess)

(This madam waiting for the bus caught my attention because she had a face similar to the old man's on the poster behind her. I passed by and stopped as if I were waiting for a bus. The camera on a strap around my neck was turned to MY3, which is set at ISO 100 and snap focus, and I slowly turned around. I metered the scene secretly, locked the exposure and took this picture)

(This was done more directly. I just walked up to the girl, held up my camera and took the picture. I have found young people less bothered by candid photos by strangers. Maybe they think it a pleasure and a proof of their charm. I have been warned that I could find myself being beaten up if I go on doing this to people on the street)

(I posted this photo before. I walked behind her and made faces to her. It was in the morning and she must be still sleepy because she didn't respond to me. That's good because I knew she would stay her head that way even if I pointed my camera to her. So I did :))

A Real Hero

(Grip On Reality: This photo was taken on my way to work. I was walking past trucks parking on a cul-de-sac when the ropes caught my attention. The light was right, the colour was right and the criss-crossing pattern was perfect and I held up my GX200. People passing by checked me out and wondered what could be made out of such a boring scene. To me, the fun in photography is that the photographer makes something interesting out of what is not obvious to most at the scene. The ropes tied in knots somehow reminded people I know who are in the grip of the recession) You must have also known a friend or two, or even yourself, being baffled by the spiral downturn of the economy. Bank went bankrupt and the rich was faced with a shrinking wealth. A friend of mine has just had his salary cut by over 10% and some of his colleagues started to be shed. But, wait. Was this done really for the sake of continuing the business? Or is there a factor or greed in it? I wonder whether the

New Low Prices

The window shopping some hours ago has almost provoked my AgIDS illness. Just in case you’re in Hong Kong or are coming here, and have the money to burn (All in HK$/ body only): GX200 = $3,280 GRD2 = $3,380 LX3 = $3,180 G10 = $3,280 Prices are available form a gear shop on the 1st floor of the Mongkok Computer Centre. Besides these new low prices, I found that Wing Shing Photo (55-57Sai Yeung Choi St., MK Tel: 2396 6886/ 91-95 Fa Yuen St., MK Tel: 2396 6885) is offering a Sony A700 + Carl Zeiss Lens package for HK$9,980 (hopefully, a bargain will make it some hundreds cheaper).

Eye Contact

(Leica D-lux 5) The digital era may make it easier to end up with fave shots. Even lousy photos may be turned likable after a few clicks in the post-processing workflow. But if digital advancement or amendments have any bearing on the cultivation of personal style, no photographers will need to discover his or her own photographer’s eye. Undoutedly, this is out of the question. Only with a trained photographer’s eye can we give a thinking gaze and capture an eternal moment, in our unique style. Style is the soul of a great photo. A few posts have been written in GXG to touch on the topic of photographer’s eye. Instead of finding an answer, which would require academic discussions, the posts are intended to give my general reflections and spark interests in moving towards further exploration of the topic. The posts can be viewed after the links: 1) Photographer's Eye: Storytelling 2) Photographer's Eye: Little Show of Observing 3) Photographer's Eye: Sight-Worthy 4

GX GARNERINGS

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