Mindful Seas – Street Photography
When I get tired of work and need a creative stretch with little time to hand, I often turn to street photography. No need to arrange models, lighting, plan ideas… let that all fall into place as you move around the environment.
When approaching my street photography, I often feel like doing something different, trying out a different editing technique. So I like to collect a range of images and see what I feel inspired to do.
Building Ground
When I start, I tend to work with a variable zoom lens, my favourite for this kind of versatile photography is my 28-210mm lens on a full frame Sony camera, occasionally Micro 4/3 for days I want that extra zoom.
With equipment ready to go, I put a piece of music on loop and work with it playing throughout. That way it keeps my thoughts and approaches to each photograph consistent, as my work is often very heavily affected by my emotions.
In this particular example, I was listening to ‘Daughter – Glass‘
Looking at a range of imagery before starting any project is obviously important. Instagram, DeviantArt, Anime, Fantasy, Steampunk, Commercials, Short Films and Colour-pallets are some sources of inspiration to name a few. This particular effect was mostly inspired by Studio Ghibli and how they present evil, such as in ‘Howl’s Moving Castle‘, ‘Princess Mononoke‘ and No Face from ‘Spirited Away‘. All of which, present evil in dark, inky, sticky looking textures.
Image Approaches
When approaching each image, I like to walk around the location first and see what I might have missed before, considering the environment at different heights and perspectives. Can I show any patterns? Do any colours contrast each other appropriately? Where do the shadows fall? Can I see any leading lines? Are all examples of questions I am asking myself constantly whilst doing street photography.
Picking and Choosing
I find myself getting to a point where I take a photo and it feels like it represents the tones I was feeling and looking for. Sometimes at this point I stop if I have many things to do, if I don’t, I keep going and explore different approaches.
Whilst I take the photos, I can often see what I am going to do with them before I even push the shutter button, blending the reality with what my imagination sees. Other times, it’s a matter of exploring in the editing process.
Editing
Building ideas in steps helps solidify the final work, practising the idea before finalising it. Hence, I find using sketches on top of the image an important process before delving into the final piece.
Once I’m happy with the look of the picture, I wanted to bring those shapes into the real world. 3DS Max was the software of choice to construct the shapes and generate the appropriate lighting.
Finally after some Photoshop touch-ups, we have ‘Mindful Seas’
Once I know an idea works, I’ll most likely find myself looking to further the effect and try it out in different locations and situations, I’m looking forward to it!
