Skip to main content

Prison Break

Image
By

R0014723 (Small)(Office Prisoners: This photo was taken inside the Juren Tower, or literally Giant Tower, a first-rate office tower and tallest building in Shenzhen.  The reflection reminded me of the bars in a prison cell.  The office workers are walking into the prison)

Office workers can easily tell you that how humdrum an office life is, except probably for those lucky folks in the Google office.  If office workers have to break away from the office prison to regain creativity, photographers have to shed the belief in just the cameras to reposition to the right mindset in photography.

R0014720 (Small) (Looking head-up at the Juren Prison)

The best camera is inside our head which is our thoughts.   But when we see a great photo, the first thought leaping into our mind is usually which camera the photographer used to take the photo.  Seldom do we think of the long years of learning and practices behind the success.

 R0014724 (Small)

Of course, a technically great camera helps photograhers a lot for snatching the decisive moments.  But examples of great photos taken with cheap cameras are aplenty.  It is our thoughts that matter the most.  A photographer should aspire to train himself or herself for not only a flair for photography, but also the flexibility to get the best out of any cameras.

R0014722 (Small)

R0014715 (Small) Photography takes more than a camera.  We all know it but don't really put this into practice.  There are cameras which suit a photographer better, especially in this digital era when the imaging machine and materials are combined.  Some cameras offer images with characteristics to the liking of some photographers for sure.  It is perfectly okay to get in love with a specific camera as long as the photographer focuses on how to use the tool to practice what he has learned.

This is another epiphany of mine on photography at Shenzhen.

(Juren Tower; the Chinese characters
say "Development")

----

R0014721 (Small)Postsctipt: As good photos do not hinges on cameras and my GX200 is so portable and controllable, I am moving further away from the bulky DSLR.  If I had brought a full-fledged DSLR and tried to shoot this set of pictures in this first-rate office tower, chances were that I would have been stopped.  The stealthness of a serious compacts is a great assest for that matter.

And I hope to post this photo to show the whole scene of the above images.  I just moved half way towards the doors and half kneel on the floor to shoot the pictures.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Real Hero

By
(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
Post a Comment
Read more

New Low Prices

By
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).
8 comments
Read more

Eye Contact

By
(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
Post a Comment
Read more