BeauxReflets.com

Talking Pictures

Like so many things, photographs often boil down to personal taste and perhaps the provocation to new thought. One of my favourite pictures is the beach scene titled 'Stowing Nets in Goa,' taken on 35mm film against the sun. I can still remember the smell from the drying fish nearby, breakfast sizzling away and freshly ground coffee behind me, as I steadied the camera and shielded the lens with a free hand, standing about four metres from the doorway of the beach cafe.

Sitting down in the cafe to wait for my holiday companion to arrive for breakfast, I struck up conversation with the American lady who had just breezed in, and was unhitching her personal 'hifi,' exclaiming that she was on her morning jog, and could not keep up with a shoal of dolphins breaking water just off shore. As she pointed towards very distant gleams, I wished I'd brought my cumbersome telephoto lens.

Being on film, it was a few weeks before I saw that day's result in print. When I finally opened the envelope, I marvelled on how the intense light in Goa that morning had created so much 'light noise,' to reduce the depth of colour to almost sepia effect, providing a dramatic depth of field that enhanced the whole composition.

In truth, it was a very lucky shot. I had taken my position on the beach solely upon ' obtaining a good composition,' and pointing the camera into the direct sunlight was a gamble that had paid off!
After all, moments before taking that photograph, I had been caught out by a surprisingly high wave, that took away my feet and drowned the camera. The remaining pictures on the roll were taken quickly in fear that salt water may have ruined the film; needless to say, my old Zenith finally ceased to work a few days later as rust interfered with the delicate mechanisms.

Now of course, technology has changed how we view the world. With the digital camera and the near instant development of pictures, the photographer can discard unwanted shots immediately, and pretty up or edit pictures beyond the camera's capability with interesting effect; and we are left wondering whether a picture has been tweaked or reproduced as a raw and true definition. Bringing me neatly to the picture of a singing Tachinid Fly.'

Yes, this is a true unedited picture, and I have to bow to the anti shake device in my Fujifilm camera (as my disabled arm had gone into its uncontrollable shuddering mode, making it difficult to hold steady). I had been photographing the fodder pea flowers and dew laden barley, when I noticed the little fellow in the corner of my eye walking into view. In a 'take it and leave it' frame of mind, I turned the camera back on, pressed to super macro, and snapped one shot before he wandered off out of sight.