Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM, 16mm, F 11, ISO 100, HDR, 5 Exposures

I took this shot in a random parking lot stairwell in Cambridge, MA.  I consider it an homage to Escher.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM, 16 mm, F 11, ISO 100, HDR, 5 Exposures

I love going back into the archives, especially when I stumble upon forgotten images that I really, really love.  This is an example of such an image.  I remember walking down a random street in Cambridge (near the Galleria) and noticed this alley way.  At the time, I was just breaking in my new Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM lens so I wanted to try to find elements within the scene that I could over-accentuate with the ultra-wide angle lens.  The cross bars in this alleyway did the trick perfectly.  I was also particularly fond of how just enough of the sunlight bled through in the background to illuminate the door at the far end of the alleyway, giving a sense of depth and scale.  This is one of my favorite HDR images.

If you take a look through my portfolio or through my Flickr Photo Stream, it’s pretty apparent that I like to fit a lot in the four walls of a frame. Add in some aggressive processing styles and what I am often left with is a lot for the eyes to take in. But that suits my style, my look, just fine.  Still, there is something to be said about ‘sweating the small stuff’.  And that was my agenda during a photowalk that I took a few days ago.

Boston was greeted with some beautiful weather this past weekend and my friend and über-talented photographer, Rich Williams, and I decided to make the most of it. We met up in Central Square, Cambridge and didn’t really have any destination in mind, the plan being to just meander around and see what there was to see. For me, I tried to pay mind to the little things. The stuff that is all around us, on our city blocks, in the little alleyways, emblazoned on walls, and tagged on street poles. The odds and ends that get overlooked, usually ignored entirely. It’s the white noise for our eyes. That was what I wanted to try and focus on.

I tried doing this everywhere that I found myself throughout that day. We started off enjoying some fine cuisine at the Middle East restaurant. It could be that the place is so eclectically designed, or just the fact that I never really paid attention to my surroundings while stuffing my face with food as if trying to form a Tetris in my mouth. I let this meal play out differently. I was more deliberate with my time. I convinced myself that the food on my plate was already dead and that it risked little chance of escaping my confines. So, I looked around. I noticed the reflections of the salt and pepper shakers on the table behind me and the way the bar stools kind of reached out into some not-so-distant vanishing point (it helped that I was using Rich’s amazing Canon 35mm/1.4L Prime lens at the time).

After the food was eaten and paid for and after growing a bit self-conscious of being the subject of some very weirded out restaurant patrons, we hit the streets and began our walk-without-a-point. The funny thing that I started to notice was just how much there was to notice. If you slow the cadence of your steps, pretend that your neck swivels the same way that your ballhead does, and ignore the knee-jerk thought that the street pole in front of you is junk, you will find that there is a whole world in front of you ready to shoot. I know that it sounds terribly whimsical but it really is. I mean, there is plenty to shoot as it is, but I really found myself full of enjoyment simply shooting a CATV plate in the sidewalk, the bits of graffiti, and the top caps of various fire hydrants. I was focusing on a singular subject and isolating it from its larger surroundings. It was awesome and even before Rich and I headed off for some sunset shooting on the Charles, I felt that I had a card full of great shots. I let the rest become icing.

As I began to think about what I wanted to write for this entry, I realized that I did learn something new about photography. Or maybe I already knew it but it just became hazy in my mind and needed to be polished up a bit. The lesson is to appreciate the dichotomy of photographing the scene in front of you. Take it in for its entirety but also for its individual components. I think that if you train yourself to do this, the age old excuse of ‘There is no shot here’ will vanish into the vapor.

Cheers,

Brian

Technical Notes

All of the shots in this album were taken with the Canon 5D Mark II. For a change of pace, I didn’t really use my Tilt Shift lens for this shoot. Instead, I wanted to really focus on creating a shallow depth-of-field for my shots. As such, I strapped on the Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM Lens. It’s the fastest lens that I currently own and it has a respectable operating distance (although it would have been nice to get closer to the subject in some of my shots). It also creates some sublime bokeh, further enhancing the separation of the main subject from the rest of the scene. Even though I had other lenses with me, I decided to keep this one on for the entire day. It fit the bill nicely and I really do enjoy rotating out my lenses, if only to refresh how I see the scene at different focal lengths.