Zach awry in Japan

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14 August 2007 Street Portraits

 

One aspect of photography I’ve been getting more and more into is something I call “street portraits.” I love capturing faces that make you feel — and it can only be illusion — that you know or can intuit something about the person’s mental state. Also, in the same way that nature is inherently more beautiful than anything mankind could ever create, so a person’s face, like a rock molded by the weather, is more interesting than anything fashioned by people.

When I started off with this kind of photography I was using my 70-200 lens, but that thing’s a monster that you just don’t plop into your bag and carry around with you all day. So, I traded my prized 85/1.4 for a 135/f2, but in the end this didn’t have enough reach, and today I traded that in for a 300mm lens. It’s old and used, but I can tell it’s going to be one of my favorites. It definitely has the reach to go in and pull something out of my unsuspecting subjects. Here are a couple from today, my first day with the 300/f4.

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Here are a couple of the last photos I took with the 135/f2. May she be happy in her new home.

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1 comment in “Street Portraits”

  1. Jon says:


    I also do photography like this. I take my camera to work every day and have gotten more and more into it. I have bookmarked your blog and look forward to reading more as you post.

    Check out some of my shots if you like.