Photographing a famous landmark

The common advice when photographing a famous landmark is to make sure you frame it in a pleasing way and of course make sure to find a new and a different angle.
Ok, right. I’m not sure what kind of a “different angle” you can come up with for a photograph that was taken by millions before you. Yeah, good luck with that.

So in order to avoid getting stuck with yet another cliché you can
A) avoid shooting well-known, shot-to-death landmarks or
B) Be creative, adapt a new approach and create something original.

Ok, sounds great you say, but how do I adapt a new approach, what does it even mean?
Well, when creating your famous landmark image you can create something new either when shooting the photo or at the post process/printing stage.
You can completely change the final appearance of the photo by selecting a camera that utilizes your vision best such as the Holga, polaroid, classic camera such as the kodak brownie, large format, pinhole or even a modified digital camera. Each one of these cameras will provide you with a unique image that can help depicting your insight.
If you like abstracts why not shoot an abstract of that landmark? If you are a street photographer you can make a picture where people are the subject and the landmark is the supporting cast in the background. If you like to make panoramas or time-lapse photos, you can certainly put a new spin on any overshot landmark.

Now, improving an average (not to say boring) shot of a famous landmark at the post processing or printing stage can be a bit tricky as it is very easy to overdo it and further add to the cliché.
But, as long as you have an idea and a general direction, and you’re not just playing around with the filters in your photo editor, you can absolutely make something original and imaginative.

I usually, not only avoid shooting landmarks, but I also keep away from visiting them. (I just get quite uncomfortable in big crowds)
But on this particular day in San Francisco, the colors, the sky, the crisp air, just seemed so perfect to photograph the Golden Gate, So I did.

When printing this photo I knew I need a different approach or I’ll get stuck with yet another boring image of the Golden Gate. So I decided on taking it to the 70′s and make it look just the way I’ve imagined it back then.

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Nitsa is a photographer, visual artist and author of numerous books centering on her “non-politically correct” photographic style… (more…)

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Holga, you’re out!

Yesterday I developed two rolls I shot along Alvarado Street in Los Angeles. Both were Arista edu. medium format except the first one was taken with a Holga and the other with my beloved Brownie. I have to say that as much as I was disappointed with the Holga I was quite happy with the shots I got with the Brownie.

I don’t know exactly when it happened but I think I grew tired of the “Holga effect”.

A few years ago when I discovered Holga (back then you could still get one for $16.99) it was so unique and so different from any other camera I’ve seen before that I immediately fell in love with it.
But I think nowadays the world of photography is saturated with Holga images, they are everywhere! Heck the other day I saw there is a Holga lens made for a digital camera!

So I think I’m going to put my Holga away for a while and stick with my Brownie.

All I want is a wholesome camera to take me back to the days I sat in the high school library and looked through these wondrous old photo books… except now, the photos in the book are mine.

Downtown Los Angeles. Camera: Brownie

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I was using a digital camera and I’m ashamed of it

 

This is a post I wrote in February 2009. It still makes me laugh.

 

Funny thing but every time I clear off the dust of my digital and take it to the streets I feel awkward. What is it about digital cameras that make them feel like a casual thingamajig, not to be taken seriously? (it’s a rhetorical question) Sometimes I feel that my Holga is a more sincere camera than my DSLR.
Maybe it’s just me. I’m the weirdo.
On Saturday the sky over Los Angeles was amazing. I had to go out and do some magic. So I grabbed my Holga but noticed it has only 4 pictures left. Hmmm.. my Polaroid was nowhere to be found and none of the 35 mm film I have in stock seemed appropriate for the occasion.
OK, then the digital it is.

I just hope I don’t meet anybody I know.

It was a nice day in Venice Beach, and I made sure to look around before revealing my camera every time I was taking pictures. But I have to say it’s not easy to hide a nice size DSLR under my shirt. And while I was taking the last images in Venice a man on a bicycle stopped by, looked at my camera and asked: “so how do you like your Nikon?” “It’s alright” I said, recognizing I was not as invisible as I wanted to be.
To make things worse he said “I have a Nikon too but mine is a film camera, Nikon N70”
“Hey that’s cool, I have the N75” I said, so happy to find a friend in this digitized world.
But he just looked at me and it was quite obvious he did not believe me at all. ‘You’re just another typical digital user’ he probably thought to himself.

Well, at least I got a few good pixels, ah I mean, pictures.