sofobomo 09: strengthening my vision

click image to enlarge

reviewing my selection process for the images to be included into the book, i made an interesting observation, for which today's lead shot can serve as an example. during the first review of the pictures within days after their creation, i had a very different attitude towards their qualities. the image above came out only 2nd, the lower image, already posted on 2009/05/20, won.

now creating a set for the sofobomo book, the criteria changed. the silhouette of the man in the lead image won over the more interesting structure of the water. and suddenly i realized that for too long a time i had tried to carefully avoid people in my images of situations and sceneries. for a reason unknown to myself even now i did not want humans in the photographs. only now i felt the added value that men/women and their interaction bring even into such scenes.

and here lies for me the added benefit of sofobomo: i had to re-evaluate my images, thoroughly weighing there merits plus their function in a sequence, something i wouldn't have done without this project. and i think this improved my vision.

this photo on flickr

Some rights reserved.

boat and flipflop, batticaloa

click image to enlarge

peaceful, isn't it? unfortunately the morning wasn't. a claymore mine exploded next to the police station in batticaloa, killed 4 and injured a dozen, 4 school students among them. on the beach we only heard a muted 'booff'. what a discrepancy between those sceneries.

Update: just replaced the lead image with a lightzone version. the much i like bibble for its speed, lightzone is incredible in its possibility to enhance low contrast structures. even in the thumbnail you can easily spot the difference.

this photo on flickr

Some rights reserved.

kalmunai catch

click image to enlarge

for me as living in the european alps, beeing at the seaside and watching the fishermen means alway a bounty of photographic opportunities. golden early morning light made those fishes an interesting pattern of metallic glistening hydrodynamically highly efficients bodies

the outrigger boats are a fascinosum by themselves. while the shape is a classical dugout canoe, the hull nowadays is made from fiberglass. however those planks to increase freeboard are not integral part of the modern hull but are still separately mounted on top of the traditional log-boat shape.

this photo on flickr

Some rights reserved.

net off duty

click image to enlarge

early morning photo walks do have their merits besides the tourist places not yet being overcrowded. the light is wonderful soft, like in this example here with the net taking a rest off duty.

this photo on flickr.

Some rights reserved.

fishermen at sunrise

click image to enlarge

the beauty of sunrise again. the kitsch-or-not-kitsch debate i have decided for myself to be not-existing anymore: beauty is a superior principle, taste is something indivdual and nobody has to like or dislike what i happen to like. for me this beauty (and my activity of capturing it) has a high value of its own, otherwise i would not bother to overcome jet lag, face tmvp militias in the form of 16yr old boys wearing kalashnikovs (oh no, not terrorists, on the "good" side!) and walk to a beach lugging around 2 kg of glass and electronics. so much for motivation.

even the klichee-like sunrise with palms: i don't want to resist. those early morning moments, between night and day, are mysterious, powerful, promising, loaded with energy, still quiet but already carrying the noise of the day - they are just great.

this photo on flickr.

Some rights reserved.

silvery sea

click image to enlarge

if there is a single one photographic situation that i do like most, it's backlight in all its variations. it gives so much opportunity for drama, for hiding distracting things, for abstracting from a world full of diverting colors into the essence of shapes and silhouettes. in the picture above as well as in the prior "kalmunai fishermen" the beauty of form is intensified.

in grey past a.k.a. my film days, backlight was always difficult, specifically when shooting slides. in my experience, dslrs are well suited for backlight especially in situations where you can easily chimp or bracket. and my sony a700 seems to keep a lot of highlight information in its raw files for discovery with a suitable tool, lightzone in my case.

this photo on flickr.

Some rights reserved.