An older photographer in a burgundy wool coat and bright red scarf shoots a Nikon DSLR at eye level. His phone is still in the same hand, pressed against the camera body. A second DSLR with a long zoom hangs at his hip, a Nikon lens cap dangles from a keeper leash, and a Chinese-language press credential hangs from a lanyard around his neck. Behind him there's an orange … [Read more...] about Photographing Photographers at Events: Two Nikon Bodies, a Phone and a Press Credential
Photographing Bayonne From Pont Marengo: The Nive Quays and the Musée Basque in Winter Light
Pont Marengo crosses the Nive in Bayonne between Grand Bayonne and Petit Bayonne, and it's one of the best places in town to stand with a camera. This winter frame looks across to the Maison Dagourette on the Petit Bayonne side, the old merchant's house that holds the Musée Basque et de l'histoire de Bayonne, with an exhibition banner for the painter Javier Ciga hanging on its … [Read more...] about Photographing Bayonne From Pont Marengo: The Nive Quays and the Musée Basque in Winter Light
Francis Harburger Painted Paris Property Speculation as Birds of Prey in 1977
A naked woman stands in a heap of wreckage, one knee braced against a felled tree, three eagles working the air around her. Behind her the sky is filled edge to edge with office blocks, drawn flat and repetitive, the windows scratched in like graph paper. Two construction cranes sit in the gaps. There is no horizon. That is the whole of the picture, and it is signed HARBURGER, … [Read more...] about Francis Harburger Painted Paris Property Speculation as Birds of Prey in 1977
Photographing Vienna’s Neuer Markt Since the Cars Went Underground
This vertical frame looks east down Plankengasse from the shade toward the sunlit Neuer Markt. An ochre façade and its window reflections fill the left side. The Gold Göldner shopfront and an Apotheke bracket sign mark the lane, and across the square the Donnerbrunnen fountain and a corner building catch full light. The dark asphalt of the lane meets the pale new surface of the … [Read more...] about Photographing Vienna’s Neuer Markt Since the Cars Went Underground
Photographing Puerta del Sol in Madrid: The Bear Statue, the Crowds and Hard Low Sun
El Oso y el Madroño, the bear reaching up into a strawberry tree, is the statue everyone in Madrid uses as a meeting point. In this vertical frame it stands mid-picture on its granite plinth, with the curved façades of Puerta del Sol and a Tío Pepe sign behind it. In the near foreground a photographer in a camo cap works from a tripod with her back to the camera, and a woman in … [Read more...] about Photographing Puerta del Sol in Madrid: The Bear Statue, the Crowds and Hard Low Sun
Photographing the Prague Astronomical Clock at Night: Dial Lighting and the Bird Netting Problem
At night the lower dial of the Prague astronomical clock is lit warm against a dark tower. This frame takes in the calendar dial: the month and zodiac medallions around the edge, the Old Town coat of arms at the centre, the archangel with sword and shield standing to the left and the chronicler with his book to the right. Across the whole thing runs a fine mesh of anti-bird … [Read more...] about Photographing the Prague Astronomical Clock at Night: Dial Lighting and the Bird Netting Problem
Photographing Pena Palace in Sintra: The Terrace Shot, the Crowds and the Midday Sun
Pena Palace sits on top of the Sintra hills with its walls painted in flat blocks of red and yellow. This frame is from one of the terraces. The red rendered wall fills the right third and stops on a hard vertical edge. To the left, five visitors lean on a crenellated parapet with their backs to the camera, looking out over the forest toward the coastal plain. The sun is almost … [Read more...] about Photographing Pena Palace in Sintra: The Terrace Shot, the Crowds and the Midday Sun
Couple in Tracht Walking the Midway, Oktoberfest Munich
A candid telephoto shot on a fairground avenue, taken head-on at roughly chest height as two people in Bavarian dress walk toward the camera. The light is flat and grey, overcast late-afternoon, no shadows to speak of, which keeps everything soft and slightly cool in tone. The man occupies the left half of the frame. He's young, maybe early twenties, with thick wavy brown … [Read more...] about Couple in Tracht Walking the Midway, Oktoberfest Munich
Mask Seller in Plumed Tricorn on the Rialto Steps, Venice at Night
A night shot taken from partway down the stone steps of the Rialto Bridge, looking toward the fondamenta and the souvenir stalls below. The flagstones are wet and reflect the lamplight, and everyone in frame is in a winter coat, so this is Carnival season rather than summer. The subject is a costumed figure standing on the steps, facing the camera. He wears a black cloak and … [Read more...] about Mask Seller in Plumed Tricorn on the Rialto Steps, Venice at Night
Behind the Story: When the City Becomes the Backdrop
From a distance, the city looks almost dreamlike, softened by the shallow depth of field into a sea of pale stone buildings, red-tiled roofs, scattered trees and layers of urban life stretching toward the horizon. But in the foreground, the picture tells a very different story: this is not simply a view of a city, it is a view of the people who are documenting it. Two media … [Read more...] about Behind the Story: When the City Becomes the Backdrop