I like wandering city streets with my camera. The possibilities for a photographer are, of course, endless.
The day in Kelowna had been bright and by 6:30 p.m. the sun was dropping and making the city scape a mosaic of glittering glass, cold metal, coloured concrete and silhouettes made from deep shadows.
I began by writing “The possibilities for a photographer are, of course, endless.” Summer in the vacation city of Kelowna means streets filled with walking tourists, lots of exotic cars, prowling Harley Davidson motorcycles, and just about any kind of architecture one wants. It isn’t as exotic and crowded with skyscrapers as larger centers like Vancouver.
I had just enjoyed one of those meals that makes you so satisfied that you just must bump up the tip to the waitress a bit, and wandered out into that exciting scene, looked around, and realized I needed my camera so I could do what a photo opportunist like me is most fond of: wander.
Looking up, over, and around, jaywalking, precariously standing in the street and oblivious to those that have just as much right to a sidewalk as I do.
I admit I get caught up in what I am photographing. Street photography for me is more about capturing building details than people blending into the street scene.
I wanted to capture parts of the architecture, not the building as part of the landscape, just small parts of buildings that engaged me.
I want to show shadows on the concrete, glaring overexposure on the glass, the contrast of bricks and metal and patterns of everything.
The best time for that is early in the morning and late in the afternoon and that meant, on this occasion that I had to move fast because the shadows were growing and starting to take over the valleys between the buildings and become a dim, flat, contrast-less scene.
Photography, especially land and city scapes, is fun when you have a photo pal. However, as my friend Jo has come to know, she needs to keep tabs on me as I wander from location to location. She has even suggested that I carry one of those tags that people are now hiding in their airline luggage so she can find me.
When I finally put the lens cap on my camera and headed for the car I did notice neon signs and light pouring from a couple of nearby bars. But both had some intense characters glaring menacingly at me and my camera, so I just nodded and kept walking without a picture.
I’ll leave those shots to young legged, fast moving photojournalists that jog in the morning to keep in shape.
Stay safe and be creative. These are my thoughts for this week. Contact me at www.enmanscamera.com or emcam@telus.net.