Girl by the Window
July 28th, 2010I came across this picture in my archives. It was taken late last year in Lebanon when I was exploring abandoned houses in Batroun, Lebanon.
I lit my friend with an SB900 set up on the floor to camera right, and a distance away, with a hint of backlighting from the light bouncing off the cieling and wall beyond the window.
The picture would have perhaps benefited from a little softer lighting, but I still very much enjoyed the play of light.
More coming soon!
Tags: abandoned house, batroun, derelict house, girl, house, lebanon, portrait, ruin, window
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Pigeon Feeding
July 26th, 2010I made this shot in Paris, in front of the Notre Dame cathedral.
More coming soon!
Tags: cathedral, france, notre dame, paris, people, pigeon, pigeon feeding
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Graffiti Town – Part II
July 24th, 2010Carrying on from Part I, this is the second instalment of what I now hope to turn into a three-part series on graffiti, tagging and wall art in Brussels.
These shots here were taken in the underground parking lot of the building one of my friends lives in. The building was named after an English icon and so the running theme seems to be all-English.
According to my friend, the reason all this graffiti was done is as follows: The building was originally a hospital. After the hospital was relocated, the building was left empty for a time. During that period, graffiti artists took advantage and ended up spray painting goodly portions of it. Later, when the building was restored and converted into apartments, the developers chose to commission the wall art a selection of which you see here.
Nothing says posh like fur, clearly.
This way to the basement.
Public school, anyone?
Keeping the peace.
I’m guessing the area, not the football club.
Oddly, rugby was featured, but not football.
Car wash!
And of course, Ascot. I guess you can’t have walls covered in references to everything posh and not cover Ascot.
More coming soon!
Tags: ascot, bentley, bobby, Brussels, building, car wash, carwash, chelsea, converted hospital, eton, graffiti, hospital, Hyde Park, parking, posh, rugby, underground, wall art
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Traditional Damascene Houses
July 22nd, 2010Within the walls of the old city of Damascus you can find peppered here and there examples of beautiful Damascene houses.
A typical Damascene house is built on two storeys, with all rooms looking out onto a spacious courtyard. Trees are generally planted there and a water basin or fountain usually adorns the center. Often, a reception area (called an Ewaan) opens out onto the courtyard. These typically consist of a U-shaped hall and seating area with
decorated
high ceilings.
During my half-day visit to Damascus, I had the chance to visit a number of these houses. Their proprietors were generous enough to allow us to visit them. Below are a selection of pictures from three of them.
One has been converted into a small boutique hotel (we got a guided tour of the place – wonderful!), another was unfortunately in ruin (but the owners are in the process of trying to restore it – the caretaker invited us in to visit it), and the third, Kasr Na’asan (Na’asan Palace), was the biggest surprise.
We’d spoken to a number of people who told us of it, so when we eventually came across it and found the door open, we entered. We met a number of people going to and fro across the courtyard, who hailed us in a friendly manner and then carried on their business. I wandered about taking in the extraordinary beauty of the place, and snapping the occasional picture. Finally, we ventured into one of the rooms to speak to a young man who was at desk working on his computer.
Turns out it wasn’t a museum or a hotel, as we’d been speculating: it was still being used as a residence by it’s owners. Oops. In testament to the extraordinary hospitality of the residents of Damascus, t
he owners had no problems with us coming in unannounced to wander about their home. They chatted with us pleasantly for a while and even offered us coffee.
Gotta love Arab hospitality.
I didn’t unfortunately get to visit one of the biggest, and perhaps best known of these small palaces – the Azm Palace. But I look forward to revisiting Damascus at some point again soon and will hope to correct that oversight then.
More coming soon!
Tags: courtyard, damascene, damascus, house, old city, palace, syria
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Colour & Lights
July 20th, 2010I’d had this idea for a photo project for some time now where I wanted to shoot portraits of someone wrapped up in Christmas lights. But I had only this vague notion of the type of shots I would like to see. The idea appealed to me though.
At one point, I resolved to try it.
I bought a roll of party lights and twisted a friend of mine’s rubber arm until I convinced him to be my subject. So that day, I pulled out my SB900 flash unit, set up and wrapped all 180 lights around him. And that’s where things got a little complicated. All because I didn’t know what type of image I wanted.
I love that I always end up learning something new through photography. I think I was initially thinking to get a shot or two of my friend lit only by the party lights, and maybe with only his face lit by a warm light. It quickly became clear that that wasn’t the look that “spoke” to me creatively.
Experimentation time!
So I moved towards a shallower depth of field and different lighting, and got shots that fit in exactly with what I had been hoping to achieve from a creative and learning standpoint.
Below are some of the results.
For the above shot, I set the camera to tungsten white balance and backlit my friend with the SB900 flash bouncing off the wall in the background. I also used a hand-held torch which I aimed at my friend’s eye. I near blinded the poor guy.
Hope you enjoyed the results of this photo shoot as much I did.
More coming soon!
Tags: christmas lights, depth of field, dof, experiment, flash, lights, party lights, portrait, shallow depth of field, xmas lights
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Portraits on the Champs
July 18th, 2010Early this year, I found myself wandering down the Champs Elysee in Paris in the company of a very good friend.
We decided to stop random strangers on the street and take their portraits. We figured it would be a great way to meet interesting people. It’s one of the things I love about photography – how it helps break down barriers between people.
It was a cold but beautiful evening and as we walked down we were gradually losing the light. It meant that a flash became a necessity. Thankfully, my friend helped out with the lighting.
Here are some of the pictures I took that evening.
This friendly lady was sitting on a bench, waiting for a friend to join her before heading out to the theatre.
This young man was enjoying a break and chatting with a few of his friends. He has an interesting face and kind eyes.
This distinguished gentleman was friendly and open. Turns out he’s a prominent surgeon.
The last portraits below are of two Finnish ladies, fast friends.
More to come soon.
Tags: champs, champs elysees, elysee, france, paris, portrait, strangers
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A Full Revolution (Around the Sun)
July 17th, 2010This is a special day. Today marks the one-year anniversary of my website and blog!
One full revolution around the sun completed!
In that time, some 9,000 individual visitors have checked out my website and blog. 
I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you all for your support over this last year. I’ve learnt much in that time.
Today I want to share with you photographs by a master whose work I’ve recently gotten introduced to and fallen in love with. Those of Yousef Karsh (December 23, 1908 – July 13, 2002).
That shot of Churchill glowering at the camera? His. Taken just after Karsh had plucked Churchill’s ever-present cigar from his mouth.
Another of my favourites is his portrait of Pablo Casals.
You can check out Yousef Karsh’s official website here.
Thank you again for all your support. Stay safe. And check in often. There’ll be much more coming soon!
Tags: anniversary, birthday, blog, casals, churchill, cigar, karsh, pablo casals, yousef, yousuf karsh, yusuf
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The Underpass
July 16th, 2010Some months ago I was wandering around the Jardins des Tuileries in Paris, when I heard a saxophone playing in the distance.
I followed the music to an underpass, where I found its source – a busker. I stood in that lonely, empty space for a long time, taking in the music in silence.
I also made a few shots as I listened. Here are two of them.
More coming soon.
Tags: busker, busking, jardins, jardins des tuileries, paris, saxophone, tuileries, underpass
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Galerie du Roi
July 14th, 2010This was taken at the Galerie du Roi (Gallery of the King), one of the Royal Galleries of Saint-Hubert in Brussels, Belgium.
I loved the way the light from the arched glass roof high above shone down and transformed people into silhouettes, and the way their shadows stretched out before them.
More coming soon.
Tags: belgium, Brussels, galerie, galerie du roi, galeries, Galeries Royales, Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert, galleries, gallery, gallery of the king, hubert, Koninklijke, Koninklijke Sint-Hubertusgalerijen, roi, Royal Galleries of Saint-Hubert, saint hubert, silhouette, Sint-Hubertus, Sint-Hubertusgalerijen, st hubert
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The Chalet
July 12th, 2010These are two shots I took of the inside of a good friend of mine’s chalet in the mountains of Lebanon at the beginning of the year.
I initially tried to light the scene with two flash guns, but I was unfortunately unable to get the look I was hoping for, so eventually I opted to shoot with the express purpose of creating HDR images.
More coming soon!
Tags: chalet, flash, hdr, lebanon, mountains
Posted in Travel/Urban | Comments (3)