Tag Archives: street

Flour Power

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Stumbled upon this frenzied flour-blowing contest in a ghetto corner of Manila. Every one was having so much fun cheering the wheezing contestants; no one noticed the camera or stranger among them.

For me, it was a rare moment to NOT get a Flower Power V-Sign. The hand gesture seems to be an automatic reaction when kids see a camera in The Philippines and many parts of Asia 🙂

The only disturbing thing was that the stern-looking referee was armed with a metal rod. Lol. Curiously, the crowd dissapted as fast as the flour when the winner was determined. I didn’t stick around to find out why…

Flour Power

The Imam’s View

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Made it back from the Bentong-Raub road-trip in time to join my Bangladeshi friends for their Eid al-Adha prayers this morning. The community of expatriate workers occupied the entire stretch of Jalan Tun Tan Siew Sin (formerly Cross Street and later Jalan Silang) to pray and listen to sermons. The Islamic Festival of Sacrifice is also known as Hari Raya Haji locally.

For this shot of the Imam’s POV (point-of-view) of the congregation, I needed a very deep depth-of-field. I switched to aperture priority and selected f20 on the 12-60mm lens. It was deep enough to pull in focus from near the Imam’s head to the end of the street.

The Imam's View

Engage

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Many shutterbugs go to a street event acting like a stalker or paparazzi. Armed with a long lens, they mistakenly believe that ambushed shots of startled people are candids. They’re not. You are not covering a war zone or disaster area.

I prefer to do street photography in a non-predatory manner. I talk to people. By engaging your subjects, they feel more at ease when you photograph them. If someone is not comfortable, you move on. Don’t steal and publish a shot knowing that the person is not willing. The Nine Emperor Gods Festival is a happy occasion and your pictures should reflect that.

This roast chestnut (buah berangan) hawker was telling me how he got kicked out of Chinatown and how he now survives by selling his stuff once a year to regulars. He was so engrossed with his story that he didn’t even pause to see the spectacular dragon prancing behind. You can see the enthusiasm in his eyes.

Engage