Originally published February 23, 2009
I’ve been back in action for a few days now, but haven’t had the chance to concentrate on shooting course assignments until this morning. It’s been a busy time, mostly covering Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinping’s visit to the island and carnival activities for the paper. For one who dislikes the carnival here in Valletta, I’m quite surprised at how much I’ve shot. The one bit I really did enjoy was the masked Ball at the Manoel Theatre. There’s a small selection of photos from that here
This morning I had to cover yet another carnival parade for the paper, but decided to try shoot the continuation of my street photography assignment at the same time. Not easy, since the requirements for both are totally different. In the case of the college assignment, I had the usual restriction of one fixed lens, one camera, black and white, manual focus and exposure and 400ISO, whereas whilst shooting for the paper I normally use two cameras, one with a 16-35 and the other with a 70-200. So I had to do a bit of a juggling act.
I didn’t want to do the usual carnival pix. So I decided to concentrate on making pictures of people with cameras, engrossed in shooting the carnival themselves. I looked for combinations of facial expression, harsh light and shadows and juxtaposing the photographers with carnivalesque elements. I did get some weird looks when a couple of photographers caught on to the fact I was shooting them. Perhaps here shooting for the paper helped as well, as I’d simply lift the second camera with the long lens and shoot some detail in the parade.
Once done with the parade, I stopped outside an old church, wanting to get some interestingly composed photos of the highlights and deep shadows as people walked by. I couldn’t shoot for long. Within a few minutes, the light was gone as heavy cloud cover moved in.
Later in the evening, back roaming the streets shooting the celebrations for the paper, I shot a few more frames with this assignment in mind.
Regarding carnival photos, perhaps next year I should try something a bit different and more daring. I’ve got some ideas in that department so watch this space!
MAPJD Street Photography 3 EDIT - Images by Darrin Zammit Lupi
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