Street Tease

I was reading an article about street photography where the author was debating if taking pictures of people in streets was photography or voyeurism. Especially when one takes pictures from a distance, with a telephoto lens.

It is a topic much debated and I have also written about this in one of my books.  I remain comfortable with the idea that if one does not take pictures of people in their own spaces and exposes their personal moments, it is not voyeurism. To me there is no difference between taking a picture of a tree in a forest and taking a picture of a person in the street, if with a goal for telling a story in an artful form.  Well, the difference is that a tree will not tell you it did not like the picture!

Eventually it boils down to good and bad pictures.  But I know the debate continues.

So, I went to the internet to read more about the debate, and found tremendous back and forth, with much difficulty in defining what is “street photography.”  For me it is photography in public environments aimed at capturing moments that are generic to human behaviour. That is the “story” dimension, as people from around the world can look at that picture and understand the story.  A bad picture is one that does not have a story to tell—not that it is technically bad (of course a good picture is also one that shows the art of the photographer, not only his/her ability to identify an interesting moment.)

On one of the internet debate pages I liked a definition of street photography as “a visual discourse of people within public space.”  Perfect – what we need is a common language to appreciate that discourse.

As an illustration, I decided to post a couple of shots I had taken from my balcony, as I was having my morning coffee just after sunrise. A couple was walking about 70 meters away and the young woman seemed in a joyful and teasing mode. I had my 1970’s Nikkor-P 180mm on the camera so decided to take a picture or two if the teasing continued.

Here they are.  I cropped and added noise during the scanning of my negatives.  To me, anyone from around the globe can understand, identify with or envy the mood of this couple!  Did the moderate telephoto “intrude” into the space of this couple? I do not think so because that space was public.

For me, it was all about welcoming another sunrise, another day with the joy of being there.

June 23, 2014

©Vahé Kazandjian, 2014

PS/ The dark bar in the middle of the shots is the railing on the balcony. It makes the pictures of lesser quality yet at the same time provides the context.

Rochester, New York

A lazy weekend in Upstate New York.  On Saturday evening there was music and street food by the river and an opportunity to take a few pictures between two bites of Tuscan pizza.

I wanted to make the ordinary a bit special. After all, a stage singer surrounded by families and kids would not do anything crazy; and the woman taking orders for pizza would just take orders in front of an old truck.  

Yet, I returned with a few shots that have certain flair, or at least a bit of character.

I noticed the very “continental” features of the young lady taking orders for Tuscan pizza. The evening sun was soft and gave the contrast I needed on the side of the truck behind the woman. With the lens wide open, this picture came out exactly as I had intended: it has nothing to do with Upstate New York! I could have taken this shot in Bilbao, Malaga, Lisbon, or Bari…

The stage singer interpreted jazz and blues with a gentle touch. He was like a grandfather singing about the old days. I had my trusty 1970s Nikkor 105 mm lens so needed to get a bit close to the stage for portraiture. I waited, then for a split of a second, the singer looked at me with a face that a grandfather may display when the grandson was not listening to him, or was playing with knives in the kitchen! Or perhaps he just was thinking “I had that lens in the 1970s – how come mine broke and this man is still using his??”

In a couple of short hours, many of the truck food vendors ran out of food! People were hungry and the food was good.  I wondered how to capture that moment when the chef stops cooking, happy that he sold all the food he had. And I found that relaxed and happy face of a cook who, when out of food, put a sign on his truck and for a short moment talked to a customer who was still hoping for a hot dog or a burger.

Streets, food, people and music – to an epicurean photographer that Saturday evening in Rochester New York was a happy moment.

June 20, 2014

©Vahé Kazandjian, 2014

The Raven on my Balcony

On Mother’s Day I wrote about swallows nesting under my balcony and the night heron that came to steal and eat the swallow chicks.  Here is the link:  

http://vahezen.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-swallow-on-mothers-day.html

I got quite a few emails from readers about the write-up: some aloof to the law of nature; others wondering why I wrote about this on Mother’s Day… But everyone liked the picture of the swallow perched on the balcony railing.

.. This morning, looking out of my balcony, I saw a couple of workers taking pictures of something on the boat docks. It is quite unusual to see them take pictures as the boats are the same and lazily bouncing on the calm waters of Baltimore’s Inn Harbor.

I looked and to my surprise it was the cruel heron! I had not seen it during the day – the attacks on the swallows’ nests happen at night.

I put my 1960’s Nikkor-P 180mm lens on the camera and clicked a couple of times.

Then, put the camera down and returned to my writing. 

Hardly a few minutes had passed when I saw a shadow move on the balcony. Looked up and it was a raven chased by swallows!

I could take only one quick shot before the swallows swarmed over the raven and chased it away.

… So, this story started on Mother’s Day and continued a day after Father’s Day… Since I first wrote about the swallow, I realized that I was not favorably inclined toward the heron. It was not a rational reaction - I simply preferred the swallow to live. But today a raven, another swallow killer, when chased by the parents of the chicks in the nests below my balcony, came to find refuge on my balcony!

Today, that balcony was my “street”, and I took pictures from my living room.

June 17, 2014

© Vahé Kazandjian, 2014

Fort McHenry

To beat the almost-summer humidity and heat, an outing closer to the open ocean shore seemed indicated. The breeze from the ocean cools down mind and body, and makes my dog happy. I also decided to take a 1960’s Nikkor-P 180mm 2.8 lens with me and go to Fort McHenry. After all, a classic like that should not spend much time in a closet surrounded with older lenses! A lens is made to let light through it, just as a ship is made to ride the ocean waves, not sit in a port.

Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Maryland, is the perfect place for waking dogs, enjoying the ocean breeze, watching sailboats catch the wind, and to let light pass through old lenses.

But Fort McHenry is also a very special place for learning history and even culture, because of its role in the War of 1812. Indeed, this fort defended the Baltimore Harbor from an attack by the British navy September 13-14, 1814. While this military history marked a crucial moment during that war, the legacy of Fort McHenry is also cultural as it was during the British bombardment of the fort that Francis Scott Key wrote “The Star-Spangled Banner” the poem that became the national anthem of the United States.

During World War I, more that hundred buildings were built on the land surrounding the fort and the entire facility was converted into an enormous U.S. Army hospital for the treatment of troops returning from the European conflict.  Today, it is a peaceful park where the ocean breeze makes the balmy summers almost pleasant.

The military ships, all steel and enormously large define the skyline of the East Harbor seen from the fort’s grounds. I did not wait long for a smaller boat to pass by the big ships for a picture showing the true size of the ships. I would have liked a few clouds as background, but was happy with the cool breeze. So was my dog!

I wanted a human perspective of the moment, and a couple practicing the art of dolce far niente gave the needed softness to the harsh steel of the ships.

My old lens was focusing smoothly, as it did 50 years ago. So, wanted to capture the wind and a sailboat over small waves was the answer. The bridge as a background and a transatlantic ship lazily enjoying the Sunday at large gave me the feel of the openness one experiences when at Fort McHenry.

But to a street photographer, a picture taking session without people around just does not make for a good outing. At the bend, I saw a woman and her easel. She was facing the open ocean and the ships. A perfect line of sight for a maritime painting, I thought.

As I walked toward her, she moved just enough for me to see the canvas. I was still about 100 yards away and could not see what she was painting. But my telephoto lens could. So, as I put the camera to my face to take a picture, I saw what she was painting:
A portrait of a gypsy woman!!

I walked past her, went to sit under the shade of a tree to let my dog cool down, and could not wonder thinking about the painter. Why would one sit by the ocean, look at the ships and the bridge, but paint the portrait of a gypsy woman? Perhaps she was there for the breeze only, and the ocean meant nothing to her. Perhaps she just wanted to catch a few rays while painting.

And then, I understood: she was like me—no matter where we are, no matter what surrounds us, we end up capturing the portrait of a person on canvas or on film!
And this street photographer took a picture of a street painter as we both faced the open ocean, large ships, sailboats, and the history of the 1814 British navy attack on Baltimore....

I knew I could trust my 50 year old lens.

June 9, 2014


© Vahé Kazandjian, 2014

Women in B&W

I have taken more pictures of women than of men in the streets of almost fifty cities around the world. Somehow women seem to tell more about a city or culture then men. Or perhaps I just find women more photogenic.

I thought a collage of my favorite pictures would be a nice challenge. But how many? The number 7 has some magic to it and I went through my catalogues to find seven pictures that would represent a lifestyle, an attitude, or just the environment. Some of these street shots are already on my blog, but organizing them together seemed a fun little project.

Let’s start with Paris.

This rainy day shot with a 1969 Nikon F and 50mm Nikkor 1.4 has a warm spot in my heart. I know Paris very well and the kiosks on the Champs Elyseés remain typically a Parisian character. Over the past 40 years I have seen Paris become somehow less distinct from other cities—fast food chains, foreign car dealerships, non-French food restaurants and multinational clothing outfits somehow have changed Paris.

This picture shows none of these. To me, this is the Paris I once knew.

The sad eyes at the Mosque in Paris tell me a story I do not know. But it did not need to be a mosque nor in Paris—the feeling is deeply human, and this picture touches me.

…. Barcelona is a colorful city that I have visited numerous times. It is a very modern city, mostly vibrant at night.  Barcelona is Gaudi, tapas, salsa dance, wine, late night dinner, and endless recipes of bacalao, which is the generic name of dishes made with dried and salted cod fish. Of course dried cod is a commonly found in many cuisines of the region, under slightly different names. For example, it is called bacalhau in Portugal, bakaiļao in Basque country, bacallà in the Catalan region, baccalà in Italy, and bakaliáros in Greece.

Perhaps for all these reasons, I like the picture of the two costumed women most as a representation of Barcelona. It is unmistakably European, has an attitude, shows the balconies I love, and is pretentious!

… In contrast, my visits to Vienna over a period of more than a decade have always given me a feeling of people in orderly behavior, Germanic obsession with timeliness, predictable food, and great wines. In fact, over the past couple of years Vienna was voted as the most desirable city in the world to live in. Its architecture is reflected in its people; and the people’s attitude has shaped its architecture.

The cobble stone streets of Old Vienna and the evening sun give the perfect texture to this picture. Somehow it gives me that sense of order and discipline…

… Maryland and its major city Baltimore offer philosophies and attitudes where Northern and Southern characteristics mix with much harmony. Blues and classical music co-exist, Northern and Southern “Yankee” food have welcomed Middle Eastern, Chinese and Indian food without heartburn, and fishermen of the Chesapeake Bay remain proud of world leader universities.

I have already posted a number of pictures from the Inner Harbor of Baltimore, Fells Point and Canton. Today, I will add a picture I took atop a famous hill overlooking the Harbor, called Federal Hill. There is a popular park on that hill, and a lovely story behind it:

The English Colonial Settler Captain John Smith (1580-1631) was among the first settlers of Jamestown, Virginia (the first English Settlement in North America) in 1606.  In June of 1608 he sailed from Jamestown up the Chesapeake Bay for a 19-day journey that ended with a voyage up the Patapsco River and he is credited reporting “a great red bank of clay flanking a natural harbor basin.”  It became known as “John Smith’s Hill”.

In May of 1788, 4,000 Baltimoreans after marching through the City’s streets to celebrate the State of Maryland’s ratification of the United States Constitution, put a sailing ship model on wheels and placed it on top of  John Smith’s Hill. The name of the ship was the “Federalist”, and since the hill is known as Federal Hill. 

I chose this picture as the elegant lady and her hat do give a feel of the colonial years. The lines of the blurred background (thanks to my 1970s Nikkor 105mm 2.5 lens) and the posture of the woman looking down to the harbor remind me of the history behind the Hill. I wonder if she were on top of the “great red bank of clay” when John Smith saw the hill, what would he have called that hill? Pocahontas…?

… Like for many visitors, Cape Town is my favorite city/town of South Africa. It is difficult not to fall in love with Cape Town. But of all the pictures I developed from the 20 rolls of medium format film I returned with, this one from Johannesburg remains my favorite. She was on top of Signal Hill where folks in Johannesburg go to have a picnic and watch the magnificent sunsets in the ocean below. This woman was all grace, the sunset light just enough for a soft and romantic shot.  And her eyes being glued to her iPad rather than looking out into the ocean is the context to describe our times and attitudes.

… My seventh picture is from Asia, Taiwan to be precise. It is an island-country where, again over more than a decade, I was introduced to Asian cultures, and learned about Taiwan’s history and people. One of my memorable trips was to the East Cost of the island to participate in a Tuberculosis study among the Aboriginal populations.  (Most of my trips are for professional reasons, but always find time to exercise the springs of my classic, mechanical cameras…).

On this trip we were in Hualien County with an Aboriginal tribe. The region is close to the Taroko National Park which is famous for its marble gorges. The walk through Taroko National Park which covers approximately 227,336 acres of breathtaking gorges, waterfalls and flora is an experience to remember. But for me, it was the stay in a cabin in the mountains with an Aboriginal tribe that made the trip most memorable. And there, I took one picture (!) of a young woman to represent the trip….

Seven pictures of women. It was not easy to chose from the large number of prints I have, but I think they represent a bit of history, a lot of attitude, and all the fun I had taking the pictures!

As always, you decide.

June 3, 2014

© Vahé Kazandjian, 2014