Bokeh or not Bokeh

It seems counter-intuitive to buy expensive lenses just to blur a picture! In short, that is what Bokeh is – the art of blurring the background of a photo.

While I understand that many post-hoc digital tools are available to manipulate an already taken picture, I remain old-fashioned or, as my colleagues call me, a Photosaurus!!! I have no experience with digital manipulation tools as the pleasure of photography remains two-fold for me: to frame the picture as I want it to come out, and, to play with the shades while printing it in the darkroom. That is the extent of my “manipulation”.

So, bokeh, a Japanese word that sounds exotic, mean blur. It is not the French word bouquet to describe the complexity and aroma of a wine, although blurring certainly gives a flavor to a photo. Before the age of digital cameras and smart lenses, the blurring of a photo was done by adjusting the relationship of shutter speed and lens aperture to the speed of the film used.  Simply put, when the lens is opened wide and the shutter speed set at slow, the focusing of the manual lens is on the subject of the photo. Then, depending on the combination to which aperture and speed are set, the background is blurred.  The goal of blurring is to make the subject stand out such as in portraits.

I started by saying that one has to buy expensive lenses to achieve noticeable bokeh. That is because historically lenses were made of glass and grounded often by hand. To achieve uniform transmission of light and minimize distortions, such glass was very costly to produce. Add to that the building of a lens that opens wide, say f1.2, and you were looking at thousands of dollars for a lens many decades ago. But there is more – a lens could be of good glass and open wide, but the bokeh can be smooth, silky, creamy or harsh! For photography purists (you know, those who still use 1950s Leica lenses and search the Internet for rolls of ASA 50 Black & While film made in Croatia…!) a harsh bokeh is as unpalatable as red wine stored under the sun….

… Like all photographers, I have my favorite lenses for bokeh. But, as a street photographer I do not have the luxury of changing lenses to optimize a shot when the light changes or the wind blows in a certain way. Therefore I rely on lenses that can produce a bokeh when I want it, and also render photos where both background and subject are in focus when I have to click quickly as I walk the streets.

Here are a few examples of different types of bokeh:

South Africa, near Kruger National Park.  It was an introduction to elephant behavior and anatomy. At some point, the handler asked the elephant to lie down so we could see the bottom of its feet. The padding is quite amazing since it changes in texture with the seasons. We were told that grooves form in those pads during rainy season to add traction, while these pads remain smooth during the dry season.  As I was framing my “elephant feet” shot, a female tourist lined up in the background, allowing me to take human legs and elephant feet in the same shot. I opened the 1940’s Serenar lens to f1.9 and set my 1954 Canon rangefinder to 1/30 second speed. The bokeh is soft but not total, as I was hoping.

Notre Dame, Paris. I had my Mamiya 645 medium format camera with me, with a Sekor f1.9 lens. This is a very fast lens for medium format, and its cost is more than 4 times the cost of the camera itself. I like it for indoor portraits as I never use flash and therefore need to capture as much light as I can. The bokeh in this photo is much more pronounced, and unless you know the Notre Dame area well, you would not place this portrait in a specific setting.

Prague, Charles Bridge. It was a rainy day and I was walking around with my 1960’s Nikon F hanging from my neck. I had a Nikkor f1.4 lens on allowing me to take photos long after sunset. The posture of this man, the low evening light and the recognizable architecture of Prague made for a pleasant moment to frame. I wanted to keep the fluidity of the man’s walk a central theme but keep the identity of the setting recognizable. So the bokeh is there and the focus remains on the man.

New Hampshire. Robins made a nest above our cabin door and we became part of the “family” for more than a month, before the new chicks took their flight and left the nest empty. I took this photo of the chicks waiting for mama to bring worms with a 1960s Ukrainian Salyut medium format camera.  Since I opened the lens to f2.8 and was on a ladder close to the nest, the focus on the chicks gave a double blur: the front of the nest is off-focus and the background is blurred.

Upstate New York. This is combination of natural blur in the background (due to fog) and a minimal bokeh. My dog was enjoying sitting in the middle of the street as all traffic had stopped given the layer of snow on the road.

And, since he is sitting on the road, I can justify this shot as “street photography”!

October 30, 2016
© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2016

Zimbabwe: Where the Wild Things Are

A friend from Denmark sent me the link to a documentary that aired on Danish TV a week or so ago. It is called “Bitter Grapes” and portrays the life of migrant workers in the South African wine industry. Many are from neighboring Zimbabwe, recently in the world news because of the death of Cecil, the black- maned king lion of Hwange National Park.

“You have been to both Zimbabwe and South Africa,” my friend wrote, “what do you think of this documentary?”

I do not know enough about the South African wine industry workings although visiting the various vineyards and tasting wines was a grand experience.

… I wanted to share a few memories from Zimbabwe and South Africa with my friend in my own way, through photos I had taken. The ones I shared with him were not published or posted before, but I now chose them because I took them more for sociological purposes than as a street photographer. Or, perhaps it is not really possible to pursue any street photography without placing them in a sociological context.

A tourist center near Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. No, it is not Cecil that the world associated with wildlife in Zimbabwe, but elephants. I have come within feet (in an open safari car) to elephants and lions in Africa, and found the big cats much more regal owe-inspiring. Yet the elephant remains the iconic representative of Africa and its wild life.

A note about monkeys. While staying in a safari lodge in Zimbabwe, we were instructed to lock the balcony doors at all times. The reason were the monkeys who have figured how to open unlocked doors and windows, come into a room and take all they can with them. In fact, many of the tall trees around the lodge have hats, backpacks, shirts and shoes hanging from their top branches.
This note not only stresses the point of co-existence with the monkeys but through the added “AND” by a vocal human, the stress between management and workers perhaps…

Social issues. I have seen such postings both in South Africa and Zimbabwe. It is not the type of advertisement one expects to see in Western countries.

Unique artistic expression. This art shop in Zimbabwe was among my favorites. All the artwork was based on the use of ostrich egg shells. It was beautiful and truly graceful. And thinking about ostrich eggs served on many breakfast menus, the use of the egg shells was both a sign of parsimony and creativity.

Bold expression, Cape Town, South Africa. This statue of a handgun with a knotted barrel was among the most vivid social expressions I saw in South Africa. There was a legend to read but one did not have to do so – the message was visually very clear and impactful.

The Africa one discovers, Victoria village, Zimbabwe. The entrance to the restaurant where food was memorable at every visit. Somehow this photo reminds me of epicurean moments.

And this sign, reminds me of my childhood around the Mediterranean, far away from Zimbabwe! Indeed, as a kid, the only shoes I had were made by Bata! Seeing that name there was like being in a time capsule. And then, how delightful it was that one can find many reasons to be at the Wild Thing Action Bar and have fun till you drop!

I keep very warm feelings from travel to that part of Africa.

October 23, 2016
© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2016

Palindrome in B&W

I “belong” to a group of artists who found their genre after decades of search in parallel with their professional training and careers seemingly totally different from their present artistic status. Many, like me, are trained in the medical sciences and have pursued their love of the arts in their “free time”. And one day, we all found the context and space to devote our days to the arts.

The Internet keeps us in constant touch, as we live in different states and continents. One of our favorite communication modes is to share our creative works (writings, paintings and photography) for feedback and discussions.

… So, a few days ago I shared a photo I took with a 1950’s Ukrainian 35mm camera to which I have fitted a 1948 non-coated Leica clone lens. I like the surprises in light transmission and sharpness these lenses can produce. It is the photo of a girl in a crowd, looking back, and wearing a faux lion hat.

“Something attractive about the moment” a friend replied. “No sure what it is but it is Gauguinesque. You recall his famous Manau Tupapau”?

“Sure, his Tahitian wife sleeping nude on her belly?”

“Yes, he called it “Spirit of the Dead Watching” as there is a ghostly shape at the end of the bed. There are many interpretations of that painting and comparisons made to Manet’s Olympia and to Borghese Hermaphroditus now in The Louvre. I guess it is the feeling your photo gives of being watched by a ghostly figure.”

“She does stand out in a relatively banal crowd,” I admitted.

“More than that,” he said, “there is the feeling of reciprocity. No, of a palindrome!”

“A palindrome?”

“You know, a word or sentence you can read forward and backward and it reads the same. Like Madam or Dad.”

“I know what a palindrome is. I even remember my favorite palindrome in biochemistry where nucleic acids combine in a special sequence – you remember the inverted repeating sequence AGTTGA?”

“We are done with biochemistry,” he said, “Let’s focus on Gauguin.”

“Ok, so how can a photo like this be a palindrome for you?”

“Well, I see a certain duality here, and my mind goes back and forth between the unknown and unseen faces in the crowd and this ghostly girl. Further, the girl is androgynous in appearance – more as a neutral spirit out of place, but as if she is keeping an eye on the crowd. That is the palindrome for me – you can go from the girl to the crowd, then in reverse, and the feeling is the same.”

“What does this photo tell you?” he then asked.

I thought for a few minutes before typing my reply.

“She has harmony in her smile,” I said. “A bit of a mystery, as if comforting.”

“It is a palindrome in Black and White,” he concluded.

October 9, 2016

© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2016

Alzheimer's Walk, Prescott, Arizona

October 1 was the Alzheimer’s Walk in the cowboy town of Prescott, Arizona. A town of retirement at 5,500 feet in the mountains, the support for Alzheimer’s research seems most relevant.
On this morning, I wanted to capture scenes from the march and the town that would be other than photos of the hundreds of marchers on the 3 mile path around town.

Here is a view of Prescott during the march – the flower and the gallery sign represent the type of living here: appreciating the days and all forms of artistic creativity.

The Elk Theatre is one of the oldest and most cherished artistic centers of Prescott. Built in 1904, it features performing arts and opera of remarkably high quality. In fact, on February 10, 1905, Prescott Weekly Courier reported:
"The peer of that theatre is not found east of San Francisco until the great cities of the Mississippi Valley are reached, and even there our theatre is outclassed only as to size, for our theatre is about as perfect as the handiwork of man generally gets to be."

Prescott, niched in the mountain and surrounded by winding roads, is also a favorite stops for bikers, even if they do not participate in all of its ongoing events, this time the Alzheimer’s march.

Talking about artistic centers, one of the town’s museum sign has been delightfully affected by the high desert sun by missing a few letters.

No photo of Prescott would be complete without the inclusion of a raven. These majestic birds are found in the works of many Native American local artists and at times seem to be the true owners of the towns open spaces. This raven, perched upon a container in an alley, watched the marchers pass by and, could not resist vocally supporting their cause!

The march concluded with music and cheers on the Town’s historic square.

Perhaps this photo represents best the feeling of caring and love from that morning. These dogs seem to form a perfect heart.

© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2016
October 2, 2016