Entry to Photography

2008/10/14

I've wanted to pick up photography as a hobby for years, and now that it's off-season, I finally had a chance to go out and just do it. First of all I watched BBC's Genius of Photography --- it's the perfect way to find inspiration and see for yourself that cameras don't take good pictures, photographers take good pictures.

Initially I wanted to spend mega bucks on a digital SLR camera. I looked at Nikon D40 - D90s, and even the 18-200 Nikkor VR lens. As I watched the BBC series, I found out that my favorite photographs were street photography, the ones that capture the decisive moment:

Street photography uses the techniques of straight photography in that it shows a pure vision of something, like holding up a mirror to society. This genre of photography is present in contemporary times and is usually done as black and white photographs. Street photography often tends to be ironic and can be distanced from its subject matter and often concentrates on a single human moment, caught at a decisive or poignant moment. On the other hand, much street photography takes the opposite approach and provides a very literal and extremely personal rendering of the subject matter, giving the audience a more visceral experience of walks of life they might only be passingly familiar with. In the 20th century, street photographers have provided an exemplary and detailed record of street culture in Europe and North America, and elsewhere to a somewhat lesser extent.

Street Photography by Joel Meyerowitz

I ended up not buying a DSLR, because I found them too clunky. I wanted something lighter that I can carry around all day. Finally I settled on the high-end compact Canon PowerShot G9.

After a few days of usage I haven't had time to change the camera from its default settings, and still, it takes great pictures. Here is some street amateur photography I took (processed, stylized):

Greenpeace Girl on Moricz Square (Budapest, 2008/10/13)

Homeless Men on Ferenciek Square (Budapest, 2008/10/13)

Laughing out Loud (Budapest, 2008/10/11)

- Marton Trencseni