“Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there someday.” ― A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

I still remember the tanning smell of the leather case of my first “real” camera. It was a 1954 Russian/Ukrainian Kiev 35mm rangefinder, a perfect copy of the German pre-war Contax camera. It opened a new horizon on capturing candid moments of, first family and school friends, then of people on streets.

Then it was the magic of developing B&W negative film in makeshift darkrooms, which often were bathrooms where I had a 1950s Hansa Pro enlarger and 3 trays. That tight dark space had no light but running water. A fishing line across the room had my mother’s cloth hanging pins and the wet paper upon which, by sheer magic, faces had appeared in the developer solution hung for hours to dry.

That was more than 50 years ago. Since then miles and miles of 35mm and 120mm film have gone through my mechanical cameras. I have taken street photos of people in more than 25 countries, and have lost many an undeveloped roll to uncalibrated airport X-ray machines in the developing world.

Yet, the excitement of seeing that image slowly appear in the developer tray has never diminished.

That is why I was delighted when 6 months ago a prominent gallery in Prescott, Arizona invited me to display my photography upcoming July and August.

Here is the link to the Arts Prescott Gallery: http://www.artsprescott.com/ . Going to the “Events” tab and clicking on my name shows some of my most recent works.

…. Maybe the reason why I still remember the tanning smell of the leather case of my first “real” camera is because I still have that camera! And still use it by buying film from Croatia on the Internet…

May 26, 2016

© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2016

Highland Games, Prescott, Arizona

It is an annual tradition. For two days and around a local lake, ancient and traditional Celtic games are showcased, along with craft and food for a good time. There is competition in how far men and women athletes can throw a stone, a heavy wooden log, a hammer and other heavy objects.

I like going to these festive games as I am more interested in the behavior of people representing the games to my camera’s lens. As such, when most visitors are watching the competition on the field, I am looking around hoping for a few impromptu moments.

First, there are strong women and men at these games. It is certainly not easy to throw an uneven shaped 20 pound stone like a shot-put. Nor it is to throw a hammer that in fact is a real hammer not a steel ball attached to a chain like in the Olympic Games.

Here are a few moments from the women’s stone and men’s hammer throw.

There are also enactments of historical moments between Scottish and English people. As expected, those enacting wear clothing of the times past and behave as convincingly as possible. But I always find those moments a bit awkward as a soldier wearing English military attire from centuries ago carried an iPhone on his belt. Or one could see a shiny watch on the wrist of a woman sitting in front of a humble abode weaving wool sweaters…

However, there are moments when the past seems truly part of the moment. Through my 1960’s Nikkor –P 180mm lens on the Nikon F3, I saw this woman, in era’s attire, holding a baby. It was part of the enactment but the very young baby was all cry and wanted attention. Thus the mom was attending to the baby’s needs instead of acting as a Celtic woman of times past.  

I kept looking through the lens hoping for a true moment when a young child, also dressed in the appropriate attire, started walking toward the mom. And he too, was unhappy …

The entire few seconds of when mom, baby and child got together for a few words was a true evasion the “fakeness” of the enactment. And a moment I cherish as a street photographer.

.. And then there are unpredictable moments when one walks around a crowd with a camera hanging from his neck. This little dog seemed most happy to be at the games. What caught my attention was the bird tattoo on the calf of the woman in whose shade the little dog was taking shelter away from the desert sun.

So I took a picture.

The second I clicked, the dog decided to change his smile and show his teeth! So I clicked again. Now, the second photo can give free space for imagination to the viewer. What did he do? Did he dislike the bird tattoo so much?

… Without such unpredictable moments, the trigger-quickness and the imagination of the photographer cannot be tested!

May 17, 2016

©Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2016