Tell a story…
Wed, Nov 19, 2008
Holidays are coming up folks. Yes we all have plans to go travelling somewhere dont we? Either its europe, back home, or just taking in the english landscape. No doubt that our cameras are gonna be our trusty companion in the search to immortalize what we’ve seen. We’re probably going to go to some place where our mates and countless of other photographers have gone before. We might have even seen the same pics of the same place time and time again. So this time, instead of taking pictures, lets capture stories.
The picture above was taken during my trip to Alexandria,Egypt. I tried to convey how ordinary people traveled by train. As you can see from the expression of the two boys. (click on the picture for a larger image)
Yes, you heard me right, stories. Go beyond the apparent nature of a place and try to capture the essence. Be it cultural, historical or even cuisine. Make that picture a unique story that tells something about a place. With digital photography we tend to lose the value of taking a picture, what with machine gunning the place with hundreds of picture, we lose the moment of taking a shot. Sure we all ooze over colourful shots, but in the end its just another pleasing picture to look at. But if we put content into our shots, a less vibrant picture is made interesting through its subject.
In this picture a woman sits inside an unused mosque in Cairo. Giving the structure scale and content.
There are alot of people out there who don’t have the opportunity to travel outside of their own country, we are a few of the lucky ones. So lets become their eyes to the outside world. Sure you cant bring back the smell of a bed of roses in Kent or the music of a busker in Italy, but we can capture that atmosphere. By bringing the story into our photographs we are providing an interaction between the viewer and the picture. Questions are raised in the viewers mind. Show other people how people in Egypt live. Show people why France is called the romantic city. Find that element that makes a place what it is. Keep your visual antenna fully extended, let the unknown open up itself.
So guys, post up your own story on our flickr group or send it to us at admin@lensa.co.uk, and tell us all about it.
Go on, what are you waiting for? create your own story. ; ) We now have our bokeh background and we hope you like it. This article is written by Shamin for the Just Creative Design Group Writing Project as photography also play a significant role in the design world. Enjoi!
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All your donations will be used solely to build LENSA community. Apart from the web maintenance, we will use it to buy books and gadgets and review it. We will never waste every penny that you donate to us. That is our promise! - Rafie and Shamin, LENSA.
November 20th, 2008 at 8:23 AM
Thanks to Rafie for Lensa’s new background. Awesomeness ; )
November 20th, 2008 at 11:48 AM
pesal aku xdapat?
November 20th, 2008 at 12:00 PM
Though, the easiest way untuk amik gambar ala-ala travel and photojournalism is to have an expensive telephoto lens! The cheapest for nikon is 79pounds which comes with rubbish optics. But it works. Its 70-300mm f4.5-5.6 . The other one is 70-300mm VR f4.5-5.6 . That one is occupied with better optics and VR tech, but cost more around 300++quids. Others not worth mentioning, heavy and expensive, unless you wanna go pro and have the money. Anyway, as for us, atleast for me, who doesn’t own a telephoto lens, just be nice talk to the locals, and ask them to be normal or act normal when you are taking their pics. The other tip is, you act like a professional, there is only 10% possibility they’ll look at you. haha. wallahualam. FYI, aku xpernah lg pegi travel mane2. so jgn dengar sgt cakap aku. anyway visit http://chsvimg.nikon.com/products/imaging/lineup/d700/home.htm . tengok dekat travel.
November 20th, 2008 at 12:13 PM
Thanks bro ; ) the trick is to use a short lens, a 18-55mm or 50mm lens would do fine around people. People dont get intimated as they would with a big ass lens like the 70-300, all of my shots to egypt were taken with a kit lens, 18-55mm. if u got a small lens, people would only get interested for the first few minutes, just keep on hanging around in the same place and theyll forget about you and continue doing their daily routine. And thats when you start taking photos. If you approach them in a friendly way, chances are that theyll be delighted to have their pics taken. Just give a small gesture such as a smile. A smile goes a long way…
November 20th, 2008 at 12:15 PM
owh and don’t be a jerk in someone’s else’s country, treat everyone and what they do with respect and you’ll be rewarded with an amazing time there ; )
Not to mention great photos as well, haha
November 20th, 2008 at 12:22 PM
wahaha, tapi sam, sekarang nko ade 18-200VR kan! tak aci!
Ohohoho! lawa background!!! :*
November 20th, 2008 at 3:34 PM
tp ak pakai 50mm f1.4 je most of the time, x muat r d200 +18-200 dlm shoulder bag ak ; )
November 20th, 2008 at 3:55 PM
Get a bag with compartments and then review it
Perhaps I should do the same thing for my bag.
November 20th, 2008 at 6:38 PM
haha, sam, nanti nko da dpt elaun masuk, angkut arr satu beg.
November 20th, 2008 at 7:14 PM
angkut jgn tak angkut, haha! ; ) – sam
eyp ive got an excellent bag brand-think tank. stylish and low profile yo…nnti ak wat article,nantikannya
November 20th, 2008 at 7:34 PM
aku pakai crumpler just to fit in lens aku. the other lens aku letak dlm case yg die kasik. Anyway aku xde beg yang besar tu la for camera, cause, the soonest aku nk angkut another lens would be after 5yrs from now. hahaha. aish article bag da ni. nkorang kene mintak commission dari all those company wei! Check out Lowepro, aku tgk ramai gler pro pakai, and the price is not that cekik darah(well cekik darah jugak arr). well nantikan2
November 20th, 2008 at 9:54 PM
crumpler ramai sgt org pakai r, da x stealth da, pada aku la ; )
November 20th, 2008 at 10:29 PM
hahaha. die xstealth bkan sebab ape. tgk la kaler die. xmcm pro langsung. mcm kanak2. but i got 1 sbb aku suke kaler die. anyway beg tu dok dlm beg deuter aku je. jadi lining untuk deuter aku untuk letak camera. look for lowepro, itu mmg pro abes la. but cheap. anyway nko xkenalkan lg member nko ni kat aku.
November 20th, 2008 at 11:09 PM
owh sori sori bro! k perkenalkan rafie, hah momad salam rafie, haha, joking, nh membe baik ak dari sek menengah , tere web design dan seantaro dgnnya, im honoured to have the chance to work with him in developing lensa ; ) Hah rafie, nh momad, membe baik ak gak dari KY, korang salam salam la ye
November 21st, 2008 at 12:01 AM
erkkKK sam boleh pinjam ker camera hujung minggu nih?? ha ha ha ha…
November 21st, 2008 at 3:28 AM
azri, mungkin kene gune tempat ni untuk menanya? macam boleh jerit seberang bilik je :p
hehehh.
rafie, i like the background. dia macam sesuai
yeay~
November 21st, 2008 at 8:10 AM
ye salam rafie!
November 21st, 2008 at 8:26 AM
Salam to all,
Momad,
Glad to see you around here. Why don’t you write article and we will post it up here. We and other readers would be great to read it.
Syad,
Glad you like the background. I will upload it as a wallpaper for download. Will be available in various sizes, so please stay tune.
Check out my twitter, I got it bokeh as well.
Have a nice weekend!
November 21st, 2008 at 11:24 AM
nice meeting u! went to cardiff last weekend, forgot to ask my friends about u.
Ok will do some articles. But i’m quite busy with all these clinicals stuffs. gotta take sometimes. but i’m having fun stayin here in this web. u guys got brilliant idea to have this. like it!
November 21st, 2008 at 11:59 AM
Thanks again. The best is yet to come
Stay tune and keep those fingers busy shooting pictures.
Invite others as well to visit and take a look around here.
November 24th, 2008 at 6:24 AM
syad wrote:
azri, mungkin kene gune tempat ni untuk menanya? macam boleh jerit seberang bilik je :p
azrin replied:
syad this is another way to tell Sam and his partner in crime, eh partner in business Rafie that i read and will be reading the entries. konon2nyamacam meninggalkan kesan degil didalam entry. hak hak hak..
June 3rd, 2009 at 7:28 PM
Your blog is so informative