Street Photography: Portrait Version

I went to two places for this assignment: the first place was around Central Market and the second place was a market by the apartment I live. I had to go to two places because I felt there were no inspirations for me to take pictures of in Central Market. I particularly felt that the place was too negative and scary as a lot of people were mad when I tried to take pictures which affected how I would portray them. It also discouraged me from taking as much good photos as I wanted so I decided to look for another place. Fortunately, I found a market with better lighting, better characters to take pictures of (as it is a portraits assignment) and a better environment vibe.

The man is fully unaware about me taking a photo of him as he was busy reading the newspaper. This is what I wanted for all of my photos which is to make it as naturally as possible. I thought it was interesting how his "stall" is just a table on the floor. I'm not exactly sure what he was selling, but I liked how he nicely placed the bottles.

I tried to get a working shot as it was a market place where people had work   to do. I wanted to show how busy the market was through people working. Although we're unable to see what she's doing, you can still see from her facial expression that she's been working hard in getting all the orders done.

This is a shot of bundles of bananas. It was interesting to me because I've never seen a place with that much bananas. I also liked how it was hanged because they were displayed to attract people so they would hopefully buy them.





As I had the chance to explore the two different places, it made me reflect on my culture and what people choose to buy food that affects their lifestyle. I noticed that a few people bought vegetables and this shows me that there are Malaysians who prefer some greens in their food. This is important to me because Malaysia is known to have the highest obesity rate in Asia, but  people are now more aware about the dangers of obesity and are trying to live with healthier food style choices. It makes me proud of my country because people are trying to change their wrongs.

I liked these shots of the kids because it was interesting to find them at a marketplace. They were probably forced to come along but I still find it odd because the place is for grown ups. There isn't much for them to do if they were to come with their parents. I also love the different expressions from the 3 different aged kids; the boy seemed like he didn't give a care about the world as he carelessly lifted his shirt. The girl walked like as if she was already a sophisticated woman while the baby dazed in confusion like how babies are suppose to be.

These pictures were taken by the waist-lever camera and I had a ton of fun compared to when I used it the first time. The best part about the camera is especially when you're doing portraits because I feel like a ninja whenever I took photos; I'm not exactly sure if the subject noticed me or not but I doubt they did. The reason why is because with the waist-lever camera, you don't have to bring the viewfinder up to your face which makes it obvious to a person that you're taking photos. However with the waist-lever camera, it's more secretly done and it would seem that you are just fixing your camera. Another reason why I love the waist-lever camera is because it's a lot easier to focus to get the depth of field that I wish.

A New Year for Photography

As it's the start of a new year, it means there are more opportunities for new experiences. I decided to join the photo class for another semester and I am well excited for what the year will bring me. For the first assignment, the advanced students, the group I am in, had the opportunity to use a waist-lever camera for the first assignment and the assignment was portraits. This was already a good start for the year and the semester because it was a new camera that I had to handle and it was a unique encounter that I can add to my life events.

The waist-lever camera is a type of viewfinder that can be used on twin lens and single lens reflex. In the reflex camera, the light from the lens is projected onto a focusing screen. The waist-level finder makes this screen viewable from above, where the image is seen upright but reversed left-to-right.

Working with the waist-level camera wasn't an easy task as stated above that the viewfinder was the inverse going from left to right which gave me a headache as I tried to take the photos. The first three photos taken by that camera showed that the background seemed tilted, however the subject looks straight and not all weird which I though was really interesting. I also loved how the camera can easily focus on the subject I wish for it to and less complicated than the (normal cameras). From this assignment, I also learned that when taking portraits of a subject, it's better to take multiple pictures of them as they are continuing with their lives as if you were a stalker. It may be awkward for me to constantly take pictures of the person the whole time, but it's how you can capture the different emotions and reactions the person gives and hopefully shows the diversity characters that people are.
I am really looking forward to try out new cameras while learning how they work and explore or expand my skills in photography.