SolarPlexus

I went to the Brum Flickrmeet last Sunday, with photochum Andy, to view the Chinese New Year festivities at The Arcadian precinct. It was our first such trip, and we’ve since discussed a few points, which I’ll share with all three of my readers…

• The Flickrmeets are useful in helping to find something different, colourful and interesting to take photos of.
• Being surrounded by people with cameras gives more confidence, especially when photographing other people - something we’re all becoming very wary of. Andy was still uncomfortable taking photos of the crowd when kids were involved, but long lenses help to mask the actual intent. I think this says more about our newest cultural norms, rather than any issues Andy may have.
• At some points we felt like we were “taking photos for taking photos’ sake”, which you could argue is the objective. My guess is that this was heightened by being hemmed into one spot, and unable to move due to the crowd. Or, at least, feeling very inhibited about moving. Next time we need to move around to get different perspectives. Our site was initially very good, but soon turned into a liability.
• Andy was happier photographing the crowd, I felt the same at the time but felt completely different when processing the pics. I feel my performance ones are stronger.
• I was a bit deflated as I knew I was taking blurred shots (slowish zoom lens; forgot to take protective filter off; a monopod or IS lens would’ve been the cure). However, I felt better later when cropping for composition.
• Preparation is key with this stuff - particularly as far as location is concerned - a recce beforehand and a clear idea of the running order and location of the various events would really help.
• Due to the day’s schedule we couldn’t hang around to chat properly with the FlickrMob, though we hope to rectify that in due course.

I like taking photographs. Not in any kind of professional sense y’understand, but as I get older I’m finding it more important to document things as I go along and I can think of nothing more convenient than taking a few snaps.

These days a snapper has to be careful about shooting pics of people, especially of children. I never knowingly make strangers the subjects of my pics, and I am at least aware of the issues.

On holiday, whilst entertaining my three-year old son in Beveridge Park, Kirkcaldy, I spied a hamburger van with a horde of teenaged schoolkids around it. Their uniforms were all black. Next to this was a flock of white seagulls teeming over a bag of chips. The juxtaposition was startling. Since all of the kids had their backs to me I thought I’d take a distance shot of the scene as it was so interesting.

Imagine my dismay when two girls on a park bench starting calling me a “paedo” and shouting at the tops of their voices, laughing at the same time. I managed not to get too ruffled and stared at them for a moment or two, and subtly moved the aim of my camera - but notably didn’t stop taking pictures.

Fortunately for me they stopped shouting. Clearly in that situation discretion was the better part of valour. However, to appear ruffled in front of those peasants would’ve been just as bad.

As a father, and somewhat overly-sensitive, I have fretted about this incident. I know I shouldn’t feel personally insulted by the incident, but it still hurts to be smeared with something as abhorrent as paedohilia, even as a puerile joke.

Anecdotally, I heard of a professional photographer in Fife being reported for taking pictures of nude children on a beach. His argument was that he’d been taking pictures of this beach for years, wasn’t intentionally including the people on it, and it was the decision of the parents to let their kids cavort naked. We may accuse him of being a bit ignorant of the social climate but that’s all.

Needless to say, I have no pictures to show you of kids and seagulls so here’s one of sleeping ducks instead…

I noted with some interest this recent blog from Brum Blogger Extraordinaire, Pete Ashton. In it he mentions an old concrete shopping ‘quadrangle’ in Birmingham. I remember gaining access to the roof of Littlewoods way back in 1986-ish. Littlewoods department store forms part of this garrison, and afforded a different perspective to the norm.

If you look carefully at the big version of this picture you’ll see that the mid-eighties timeframe is confirmed by the ladies’ footwear - calf-enhancing heels all the way ;)