Impulsive Street Photography

I was recently asked if there is a subset of my photographs that mean one thing to me and another for viewers. Specifically, if what I intended to see was not what others saw after printing them.

As in any form of art and communication, the predisposition and expectation of the recipients are commonly different from that of the presenter. Yet it is the role of the photographer to find that angle and context that would mean the same for most viewers.

But there are always exceptions.

So here are a few photographs for which I have received variable reactions from viewers.

A.    Madrid, Spain

This photo was totally unplanned. I was walking with the crowd late in the day when I heard laughing and exclamations at loud voice. Turned around, and saw this man holding a magazine and being very expressive. My lens (a Fujinon) was wide open and I clicked once and kept walking.

It was only when I looked at the negative that I noticed he was looking at a male models magazine.  

For me, it is a photo of a relaxed moment in the streets of Madrid. Many others have found it to represent different stages of a man’s life, as well as the delightful surprise of not finding him looking at a female models’ magazine.

B.     Paris, France

Outside of the Notre Dame Cathedral, I saw these two ladies in a similar sitting posture, eating ice cream. Took the photo knowing that it was not the greatest, but did it anyhow. When I developed the negative, I notice the third person wearing the Michael Jackson-like single glove. I did not see the glove when I took the picture.

Interestingly, Michael Jackson died on June 25, 2009 and I took this photograph in July of that year. So, without intending it, it does have a historical background.

C.    Oslo, Norway

This one, again, was an impulse-based photograph where I wanted to capture the harmony in the joint postures of two Norwegian young women.  Beyond that, I had no story to tell.

However, I received a number of comments from Norway where viewers of this photograph had seen the dichotomy they faced about joining the European Union (EU). Indeed, I learned that Norway did not immediately find comfort in making the transition from its people’s-based democracy to adhering to the rules of the EU.

Clearly, such an interpretation is relevant only since the photograph was taking in Oslo…

D.    The Model and the shy dog, Baltimore, Maryland

I was walking my dog when I saw that there was a photo session happening. I talked to the photographer who told me he was doing a series of shots for a calendar. The model was a well known young woman who was dressed in leather and a red jacket.

I did mention that I was a photographer too and would be interested in watching him work with the light changes. “Sure,” he said. “But you can do more – how about having your dog in some of the shots?”

I thought “Lucky dog!!!!”

I took a few pictures with permission. He said I can use them if I want.

When I looked at one of the pictures, I could not stop laughing: my dog seemed so shy next to this beautiful woman! He even closed his eyes….

E.     Urban Kiss, Baltimore Inner Harbor, Maryland

This is a photograph using medium format film. What is interesting here is that I tried to do a B&W transparency from film. That is a process called a “reversal process” where the negative is developed but not fixed. Then a bath and washing in potassium permanganate in sulfuric acid solution would take some of the silver halide to be unevenly distributed on the film, which upon exposure to light can give unexpected patterns to the negative once fixed and dried.

Interestingly, I was more pleased by how the buildings and crowd on the boardwalk appeared when I printed it. Yet, all of the viewers of this photograph commented on the tenderness of the kiss with absolutely no consideration of the rest of the photograph….

F.     Somewhere in Virginia

This is an old photograph and I do not recall the name of the town. It was a re-enactment of Western lifestyle with cowboys and Native Americans.

I was walking in the parking lot when I heard laughter. Turned around and clicked on the old Pentax K 1000 (yes, I remember carrying that camera on that day…). Unfortunately the negative was damaged during development and the picture did not qualify for anything except for sharing it with some friends. The reason was that it is an intriguing photograph lending itself for many interpretations and fantasizing.

The obvious question was “Where is Big Chief?” and most answers I got were along the line of “One lucky Big Chief!”

… The moral of the story is that sometimes one should take photographs on impulse without necessarily having a complete picture in mind. The surprises street photography provides post hoc can be just delightful!

March 23, 2016

© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2016

Squatting to Get a Bigger Tip

I was in Florida where touristic hospitality is a central way of life.  From restaurants to hotels, there seemed a well rehearsed behavior of interacting with customers.  Most noticeable was the “invasion” of personal space by restaurant servers who when introducing themselves or taking your order, would often squat down next to the table and discuss the order!

I found myself appreciating the service differently when that interaction was so personal, and I got curious if indeed that is a well studied and taught behavior. So, upon return, did some research on this topic.

Indeed, there are a number of scholarly studies where the posture of restaurant servers is studied in relationship to the amount of tips they receive. It is found that when a server squats next to the table, brings his/her eyes down to the customer’s eye level, there is congruence between the server and customer. This nonverbal communication is associated with “rapport and liking” and results in higher tips.

To a street photographer posture is everything, since any story I will tell through frozen photo frames is nonverbal by definition. And I have taken photos of various posture, be that human to human or human to animals, mostly dogs.  So, went back to some of my photos…

Photo A. The “You are my best customer” posture.

There is no doubt that this lady felt the center of the vendor’s attention. I watched him for a while (he was selling canned liver pâté in an open market in Paris, France) and he assumed the same caring posture with every customer.

Photo B. The “Wow, your dog is soo cute” posture.

I like this posture, and my dog does too!

Photo C. The “I have more than one way to show that I am a friendly person” posture.

She was petting his dog which was small and very friendly. From my view angle, she was uninhibited and socially at great ease.

Photo D. The “I like to be me, no matter what the protocol says” posture

This was at a restaurant. I liked the youthful impulsiveness of this young woman who made the most of a relaxed sitting arrangement.

… So, it comes naturally to some of us to bring our eyes (and the rest of our body) to the level of the person or dog we are interacting with. Others learn the tricks of the trade when they are in service and hospitality professions. And, I have to believe that others struggle with such posturing, even when they know that it may help with the interaction and appreciation.

March 18, 2016

© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2016

Leprosy in India

As an epidemiologist and academic, I traveled to most corners of our globe. Eventually my passion for the arts shaped my life but I still keep in touch with the public health and medical literature. The past decade has seen the resurgence of infectious diseases and having worked in pulmonary tuberculosis research I have a propensity of reading the literature on infectious diseases.

Recently I came across a number of articles on the alarming trends of leprosy in India. I know a bit about the situation of this disfiguring and socially isolating disease as I have seen it in India. So I did a bit more reading and wanted to find the few pictures I had taken in Mumbai a few years back.

.. It was in the early 1990’s when I went to Mumbai and Hyderabad for academic work. I was in good hotels and the universities were competitive with their Western counterparts. While poverty was apparent in Mumbai, it was only during a drive through the city that I realized the extent of the social tragedy that public health challenges eventually struggle to keep under control when prevention becomes a herculean endeavor.

We drove through the center of Mumbai to an area called Dharave, which I was told was Asia’s largest slum. Fifteen years ago it was estimated that 600,000 people lived there but no statistics were reliable enough to trust that forecast. I was accompanied by a physician from the Bombay Leprosy Project which was, and I believe still is, the leading organization created by the government to identify new cases, document the relapsed ones, and provide medical treatment.

What was special about this slum is that it was also home to the “leprosy colony” (I dislike this terminology). Given the traffic jams in Mumbai, any car driving near the shanty shacks that make up Dharade is expected to come to a halt. And that is when one literally comes face-to-face with leprosy. Indeed, the moment our car stopped, I saw two hands, missing fingers, holding a tin cup, which made their way through my open car door window and asked for money or food. It was a teenager, half naked. He was a leper. I looked around and every car that had stopped was surrounded by young boys, sometimes even toddlers. Most cars had their windows up making the scene even more uncomfortable to experience.

I remember having second thoughts about taking photos from my car window. I eventually took a few to describe the scene without infringing on the identity and dignity of the young boys. I had a 1960s Yashica Electro 35mm camera with me that day.

In the above photo, a sliver of the slum of the leprosy colony of Dharave can be seen in the background, on the right.

… The rest of Mumbai and Hyderabad were similar to other developing countries --lots of color, street vendors, and heavy traffic consequent to the characteristic lack of driving rules.

Yet, the lack of basic public health behaviors continues to pave the way for infectious diseases, among others. Here is a butcher shop where refrigeration of meat is nonexistent in the depressingly hot temperatures of Mumbai.

Indeed, according to the World Health Organization, near 140,000 residents of India were diagnosed with leprosy in 2012-2013, representing about 60 percent of newly diagnosed leprosy cases in the world.

This trend is especially disturbing since in 2005 the government of India declared victory on leprosy and classified it as “eliminated”. As such, the resources dedicated to prevent, identify and treat leprosy were channeled to addressing the challenges of new epidemics such as HIV and the stubborn tuberculosis.

…Meanwhile, the social stigma of leprosy remains, even if Dharave, the largest slum of South Asia, is located in the center of Mumbai and no one seems to know how many people, disfigured and in extreme poverty, live there.

February 12, 2016

© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2016

We, the Humans

I was walking with my dog on California Avenue, in Palo Alto. It is one of the places where I have heard more people “talk to themselves” rivaling my experience in Singapore. The difference is that here the topics discussed seem to be related to technology and science. In fact, I have the impression that even when folks are walking in the street they are taking part to a meeting, somewhere.

It is Silicone Valley, after all.

So, as I was walking with my dog and enjoying the first signs of spring (daffodils open already in sunny spots) I heard someone talking on the phone while trying to pass me. The accent was British or Australian and as he passed by I heard:

“We need to get the IT team together at lunch: they just do not understand the organizational anthropology of our customers.”

Wow!

… Anthropology (and sociology by fiat) has often been used in all disciplines where an understanding of present behavior (mostly human) is placed within the context of past behavior and the environment. There is organizational anthropology, ethnic anthropology, geo-political anthropology and yes, visual anthropology. I have written about the latter here: http://liveingray.blogspot.com/2015/12/visual-anthropology-do-we-see-what-we.html

But anthropology was originally a very different area of inquiry. It was in the late 1850s when the Société d’Anthropologie de Paris was created following the influence of evolution theory in zoology. The definition used by the founder of this société, Paul Broca, was “Anthropology is the study of the human group, in relation to the rest of nature.”

The original attraction of anthropology to photography was more mechanical – anthropologists used photographic tools to document the “primitive” features and behaviors of social groups they studied. 

Then, anthropology (as part of social sciences) adopted analytic and problem-solving methods as a requirement for all studies and proposed hypotheses.  As such sociology and anthropology became closely linked and essential methods of analysis for anyone interested in understanding group behavior. (My interest in this topic goes back many decades as my doctoral training was accompanied with a minor in medical sociology.)

…So, today as a photographer and author, I do see aspects of my “other life” and training reflected in what I see (my visual anthropology…) and what I capture on film. When I came back from my walk, I decided to find some of my photos where such social sciences inclinations, perhaps unconsciously, could have predisposed me to notice some compositions as I walk among people.

A. Malaga, Spain

I had time to click only once on 1980’s Olympus OM-1 as the man moved and the frame was gone. There was a natural harmony between his posture and that of the classic depictions of man’s evolution that was behind him on the side of the conference building. However, he was facing the wrong way! Is this “De-volution?” Or even “Re-volution?” 

B. Santa Cruz, California

I took a few photos around Santa Cruz last week. To My surprise, some, taken with a 1970s Nikkor-H 180mm lens, have some anthropological backdrop.

Two different cliffs, separated by a common ocean. On the forefront albatross are lined and watch the waves crushing. On the further back cliff, humans, looking like extra terrestrial creatures in their wet-suits, seem destined to enter the ocean.  Yet the humans do not have the necessary structures as part of their anatomy hence carry surf boards. The albatross, with their wings and oily feather, seem best “designed” to fly over or dive into the angry waters.

But humans can also be on the cliff, and in their own way, watch the waves loudly crush…

But wait! Today’s humans have a new part to their ancient anatomy and it is called an iPhone! Now they can watch the cliffs, the albatross and the extra-terrestrial surfers, take pictures, and send these immediately to all friends around the globe. 

Yet, there is something about humans that somehow finds a symbiotic relationship between the arts and sciences/technologies. For me the photo below expresses this without fanfare. Especially since the man was playing Piaf’s “La Vie on Rose” on his accordion…

February 5, 2016

© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2016

You walked with me, footprints in the sand and helped me understand where I'm going (Leona Lewis)

There is something distinctive about being near a sea or ocean.  Perhaps it is the memory of our umbilical sac; or the soothing yet threatening rhythm only water and waves can provide. No matter, since I was born in a city upon the Mediterranean Sea, waves, rocky shores, their allure and their dangers have remained with me. Mostly in me.

Yet, there is much fascination with footprints on sand.  Having lived in the Arabian Peninsula and traveled in Sub-Saharan Africa (Afrotropic Ecozone), I have seen and left many a footprint in the desert sand. And now that I live in the high desert of Arizona, I continue to ponder on the attraction and magic footprints in sand have on people, give inspiration to spiritual expression and influence the sang and written arts.

I suppose footprints on a sandy beach have special suggestive powers since the waves erase the proof of being there immediately. Tabula rasa at its best. And in some ways it goes beyond “being there” to become about “have been there”. The waves take away all sense and record of our passage.

A legacy, a memory, and a remembrance by others that we have passed through life are important for humans. A sandy beach is cruel and unforgiving.

… But as a photographer and poet, I remain attracted to the unique moments each one of us experiences next to an angry ocean or at sunset on a pristine lake. In fact, the publisher of my last book (2014) chose one of my “sand walk” pictures taken in Nazaré, Portugal. It shows footprints away from the erasing power of waves….

While the above picture shows a couple, sandy beaches can also harbor much loneliness. This picture I took in Oporto, Portugal is among my favorites in that vein of thought.

Recently, I took a few pictures of people next to the Pacific Ocean along the coast of Monterrey Bay, California.  This one is the simple walk on the beach, but it is also purposeful in the sense that she is walking on the edge of the water line as if wanting to leave no trace of her passage. I find it most telling about a person the path they choose on a beach – these are often similar to their paths in professional work, relationships with others, and propensity to embrace the challenges of big cities or new cultures.

And then, there is the “beach walk” away from the beach! This kind of walk is mental and spiritual. We walk the beach without touching the sand with our feet, but with our mind. This is transcendental and allegoric. I have done many of these “walks” around the world. Perhaps this photo comes close to describing the moment.

February 3, 2016

© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2016

Santa Cruz On A Cloudy Day

El Niño is finally promising rain for California. With the rain come wind and dark skies. But no one is complaining.

The drive south from Poplar Beach to Santa Cruz is picturesque. The cliffs are majestic and the Pacific Ocean incessantly pushes its waves against these cliffs. The travel rods are serpentine and perfect for a drive in a two-seat convertible roadster.

Hundreds of cars were parked along the road with folks taking pictures of waves and beaches. That is not what a street photographer does, so I kept on driving to Santa Cruz looking for humans!

As one gets close to Santa Cruz, the waves seem to swell bigger and the sound of these crushing against the rocks much louder. No wonder that it is one of the most popular areas for wave surfers. In fact the Santa Cruz Surfing Club is among the first in California introduced to the region by students from Hawaiian Islands who migrated to the San Francisco Bay Area for jobs or education.

… I took two 1970s Nikkor lenses with me – a 105mm and a 180mm.  Both open down to 2.5 or 2.8 and given the cloudy skies I wanted fast lenses.

I parked my car and a quick look over the cliff uncovered a small bay full of seals.  I looked through the 180mm lens to realize that these were wave surfers waiting patiently for a good swell.

I waited as well. Wanted to catch the good wave through my lens. After about 10 minutes of wait I became impatient and decided to be happy with a small wave.

Ok, that was enough wave and rock for me—wanted to get into the crowd and catch a few moments on the boardwalk.

This artist made imaginary trees out of scrap wiring and anything shiny to shape into leaves. I opened the 105mm lens wide and wanted a creamy background.

The boardwalk is secured with a sturdy steel fence. Yet many jump over it to get closer to the edge of the high cliffs. I wanted to capture the eclectic behavior on the boardwalk along with surfers jumping the fence to get closer to the ocean.

But the call of the ocean seems to be for everyone –even a Golden retriever was tempted to jump the fence!

Talking about dogs, I was surprised at the effort some folks took to clean their dog before getting into the car. After all this is California!

After couple hours of walking around, I got that one picture that makes any of my street outings worthwhile. Atop a high cliff, about 300 meters away, I saw a fisherman, a young lady and a surfer next to each other. Strange composition. Yet, what I thought as I looked through the telephoto lens was three human shapes, on a cliff, looking at the tumultuous Pacific Ocean. But they look at it differently, with a totally different body language. Here is what I saw with the naked eye:

And here is the view though my telephoto:

… On my way back along the coast of the Monterey Bay, when fast Tesla cars were passing me from the right and from the left, I was wondering how many surfers caught the wave they hoped for; and if fishermen took home rockfish or lingcod.  But most importantly, if the lady on the edge of that cliff had a pleasant daydream.

January 31, 2016

© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2016

Portable Toilets

There are moments when a street photographer gets someone, a total stranger, to willingly help with a photo. No need to plan for the shot – a person just decides to make that shot mean more than it was originally intended.

I was walking on a back street of Palo Alto, California when I saw a portable toilet in front of a home under renovation. Nothing new there, except that I had not seen a portable toilet called “Honey Bucket”! So, I was planning to take a photo so I can research and learn about this specific toilet. 

Just as I was about to depress the shutter, a worker voluntarily walked into the frame and assumed the appropriate position to explain the toilet! (See bottom corner on right of frame.)

Perfect. Now I had a photo to use with my story.

… I have seen and used bucket toilets in areas of the world when in disaster or war zones. When there is no water to flush toilets or no sewer systems, a bucket toilet makes a lot of sense. In fact, my search showed that there are still a number of countries where bucket toilets are used. Among them Namibia, Ghana, and Kenya. It is not only an issue of sewer system availability only, but also of ambient temperatures. For example I have seen outhouses in Baltic and Easter European countries, but sometimes even outhouses are difficult to build or maintain. That is why one still finds bucket toilets in Alaskan rural villages such as those in the Bethel area of the Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta.

Perhaps portable toilets in Alaska will disappear with climate change, soon… After all the British pail closets are now part of the 20th century history. So will soon be, according to the government plan, the use of “bucket systems” in the Free State, Eastern Cape, Western Cape and Northern Cape provinces of South Africa.

… So, I had seen portable toilets called “Porta-Potty” on the East Cost of the US; “Port-a-John” in the Midwest; but it was the first time I see a “Honey Bucket.”  Probably my favorite remains the so much more sophisticated “Portaloo” in the UK!

And I smiled when I recalled the writing on the loo door of a bar in Edinburgh that read:

                                  “The Place Where Even Kings Must Go on Foot”

January 28, 2016

© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2016