Street Photography Advice

A curious bit of street photography advice flipped past me on Instagram recently: To make your street photography better, pretend you’re shooting video.

I found this curious and spent just enough time with the post to discover that what they were talking about was essentially Henri Cartier-Bresson’s idea of the decisive moment. Pretending you’re shooting video was their way of saying: Don’t just snap something because the scene looks good (or whatever). Watch carefully what’s going on through the viewfinder and choose those moments that really tell the story.

Here’s what that looks like (low res images to save space):

I liked the early-evening light, enhanced by the string of lights, along this narrow street in Porto, Portugal. But there’s really not much going on.

Then this young guy sits down. He’s apparently been partying hard. His body language is adding something interesting to the mood of the scene. But this still isn’t right.

Getting better. Plus, I like having these other people in the scene. They have their own stories.

And there it is — as edited. The hand up to the forehead says more about what he’s feeling. And two of the three people are checking him out. The woman in back appears defensive (although she could be reacting to me). I like the similar body language on the two men — obviously taking in the street scenes of which the seated man is just another feature.

I “tripped the shutter” on my phone eight times to get this shot (#7).

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Attending Fest – New Directors New Films Festival

Just a heads-up on up-coming activities. I’m attending the Fest – New Director New Films Festival in Espinho, Portugal that begins on 19 June. I do not have a film entered. I’m attending as an interested film industry pro.

In other non-fiction news, I’m also filming a fado tour for a client in early June. The client wants a promotional video. I’m also producing a documentary style recap for the participants.

I’ll keep my “fan base” up to date as these events occur.

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Eyewitness is Ready(ish)!

When I first announced I was creating a new portfolio site, I mentioned that I was taking my time finishing it. Well, I was right 🙂 It took a bit more time, mostly because I was not happy with some of the themes I trying. I finally landed on the WordPress 2017 theme because, well, its features suited my needs while being fairly customizable.

So now I have a publishing venue beyond just YouTube and Instagram. Facebook? Nope. Not after the Lily Collins hack took down my original wall — a profile I had since the earliest days of Facebook. Back then you had to have an .edu address to join.

Yes, my hide is still pretty chapped about it.

The whole blogging thing is just so different from the early days. There was a time when Rhetorica was a BFD in the blogosphere. It remains one of the oldest, continuously-published blogs on the interwebs. No that anyone is reading now 😉

So a portfolio site is — maybe — a better choice than Rhetorica to publish work outside the usual social media venues.

The “ish” in the headline indicates that it is a draft. For how long? Who knows. Perhaps all websites are always drafts 🙂

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Time Marches On

June is going to be a busy month. Summer is going to be a busy season. All in a good way 🙂

I continue working on the new Eyewitness website. See my previous post for details. Following the disastrous hack of my former Facebook account, I decided I no longer wanted to count on Facebook for anything professional. The new site will operate as a portfolio of my documentary work. Rhetorica will continue as a documentary blog and a way to update my fan base about news of me and Carbon Trace Productions.

I have an interesting project ahead of me involving Portuguese fado — a soulful form of urban folk music. I’ll be participating in a week-long fado tour to Lisbon and Porto.

Around the summer solstice, I’ll be attending the Fest – New Directors, New Films Festival in Espinho — about 30 minutes from Aveiro by train.

I’ve cooked up an idea with Carl Munson of the Good Morning Portugal! show/podcast. More on that soon.

In early August, I’ll be traveling to Scotland for a short pleasure trip that will turn into some sort of non-fiction something for Eyewitness.

The Trinity edit is moving forward … slowly. But I think I may actually make my second imposed deadline of “spring.” That means I’ll have accomplished it if I’m able to export a final version by the vernal equinox 🙂

So, yeah, the teaser still says coming fall 2022. That was a bit of optimism that failed to take into account the fact I was teaching my last semester at Missouri State University while getting ready to move to Portugal in January 2023 🙂 What was I thinking?

And, finally, before the summer ends, I’ll be updating my reel.

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European Marathon; I Walked :-)

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