This shoot was the second time that I had gone to Chinatown to take pictures. Even though the area was generally unchanged, the experience was quite different. For one reason, there were a lot more people, particularly tourists, which made it harder to get clear shots of the stalls. Another thing that was different was the camera that I used. This time I used the waist-level finder.
Though it doesn’t sound that much different, it took a while to get used to. A problem I noticed was matching up what I wanted to take as a photo to what the camera saw. The angle took some getting used to be because people walking in front of me would block the lens or get in the way. When you have a camera with a regular viewfinder, then people know you are taking a photo, but when it is with a waist-level, people don’t realize what is happening. The degree of anonymity is quite nice at times, because the subjects are caught unawares. On the other hand, it is annoying when people walk in front of your shot because they don’t know what you are doing.
The first photograph had a really light bottom third, so I had to to some considerable burning. In addition to burning the bottom, I also burned the top left corner.
The second photograph was actually quite easy to print because I only had to up the contrast. There weren’t any parts that were far too bright or far too dark, so I didn’t need to do any burning or use the lollypop.
I think that that the fourth photograph is interesting because of the angle. I like how it is noticeably taken from lower that usual, and his lounging position thus becomes more pronounced.
For the fifth photograph had to have a high contrast, and because it was underneath a ceiling, it was quite dark. I had to lollipop the faces of the two people, particularly the woman.
