Spotlight #18 - Chemistry

This picture is a perfect example of what my last few months journey into the world of photography has brought about for me.

Needless to say, it means a lot. 

This picture is sharp and colourful, but also full of contrast. It was also shot in manual focus with a flash in an extreme low-light situation. 

All of these things are skills I've picked up over the last few months. Ironically, it's also what I swore that I would never do when I first started out in photography. I wanted to be different. I didn't want to be the guy blinding people in the club. I didn't want to use Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop to their full extent. I wanted to keep things simple and minimal - nothing more, nothing less. 

Yet, this picture is the exact opposite of all those beliefs. 

Seeing it manifest in this form is extremely pleasing. 

I've been able to embrace technology for what it is and am happy with the results. 

Spotlight #14 - Fury

This picture was taken a couple of weeks back by me during the first official Budweiser Experiences Boxout Wednesdays. 

Boxout Wednesdays is the event that I've been covering for almost 6 months now. 

This gig was the first one sponsored by Budweiser. Anyway, that's just a whole lot of technical stuff that isn't really important. 

The reason why I mention that is because of the symbol behind the man in the picture. For those with keen eyes, you can probably recognize it as the logo of Budweiser. 

Now this isn't sponsored (hint @budweiser), but i feel the need to mention that because the logo just adds so much to the picture. 

Seeing as how I've been posting a lot about Boxout lately, I thought it would be fitting for me to use one of my own favourites for this week's edition of spotlight. 

What really draws me into this picture are the colours. I was mucking about on Lightroom when I had the idea of turning the saturation on, and manipulating the colour around. 

This was the end result. 

In a way, it's a new step forward for me because I've always (and still believe) that I want my pictures to document reality more than anything else. I don't want to or like manipulate the image too much, which eventually forces the picture to look completely different from what was actually captured. 

In this instance, however, I managed to find the perfect balance between colour manipulation, and staying true to my values. 

This was the end result. 

I would love to hear your thoughts on the picture, or just generally on anything photography related :)

Cheers

Boxout Wednesdays 026

Check out this week's highlights from Boxout Wednesday that featured Deadbeat, flown all the way to Delhi from Berlin. 

Safe to say, it was a fucking wild night. 

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Shooting landscapes

I remember as a kid (don't you love it when articles start like that?), a 'good' photograph was one that captured the landscape really well. 

And so, no matter what my camera was, I always pushed for capturing a good landscape. 

Recently, however, my pictures have been of a more documentary style. It comes from the belief that I have about pictures capturing reality and freezing it forever. Manipulating the picture to make it seem like something else is manipulating reality, and so I was dead set against it. 

Just yesterday though, while I was editing my pictures from Ladakh, I happened on a technique that truly opened my eyes to something new. I've been following this Instagram accounts for a while now - accounts that edit their pictures so well, the pictures seem other worldly. 

A part of me has always been skeptical of it because of that very belief i talked about above, but a part of me was both envious and in awe of it all because it's truly beautiful. 

And while I was editing, I chanced upon the technique on how to do it. 

Suddenly, my perspective on it all has changed. I still believe landscapes cannot truly ever be captured on camera because of their raw beauty, but from an artistic perspective, landscapes provide the most room for experimentation. 

Now, my recent trip was a mixture of many different kinds of pictures - landscapes, people, street, animals etc. and I never imagined I would have gained such a new outlook on photography as a whole. 

It's an exciting time for me where I can experiment around with a new style of photography and see where it takes me. 

Cheers