As I’ve mentioned before, Sometimes a snap shot will do.
There’s something fun about just walking along, seeing something cool, taking a snapshot, and heading off. Especially if later on you’re happy with it.

This lazy specimen of a bulldog was taking his leisure time on a sofa out on the streets of Utrecht, NL.

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Arriving to the market was definitely not a disappointment, it has about 500 stands, covering everything from food, home appliances, clothes, shoes, music and more. I started wondering around, waiting for some nice photo opportunities.

Photo opportunities in a market are plentiful, but I did encounter two main challenges. The first was picking human subjects- walking around with an SLR isn’t very low profile, and while some people don’t mind it at all, a lot will prefer to stay out of your frame, and will either politely move away or simply tell you so. One of the solutions was to focus on hands and transactions,  the other was to put people in the background.

Less challenging but just as satisfying, some of the commodities in the market make for excellent photographic subject, and when it comes to fruit and vegetables, they hardly ever protest. Color and textures of different products are easily accessible and supply great compositions to play with.

As for the gear, I was using my solid entry level Olympus e-420 with its 14-45 kit lens. I’d recommend sticking to either your mid range zoom lens or switch to a wider one. If you want to come closer to an object, you can just walk up, and using a tele-lens will limit your wide angle snap shots.

Markets to give a glimpse into local culture, and if you don’t find cultural enlightenment, you can at least catch a glimpse of the local commodities. I have to say my strongest memories from the Den Haag market were food, and shoes.

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Without going to any philosophical connotations, windows make a somewhat unordinary photography objects. Composition-wise, they’re all flat, practically two-dimensional. Furthermore, the conventional window-shots  are simply a frame within a frame, just like this window in Olbia, Sardinia.

A fine window photo would then usually be one that might present an interesting color composition (unless there’s a cat sitting on the windowsill). In these three other photos I tried different approaches for these problematic-though-intriguing objects.

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I had the opportunity to get into a concert of a few unknown local rock bands, some excellent and some will definitely raise an eyebrow with the average listener, like myself.

The interesting point was actually the venue- a huge loft over an old warehouse, with the band located right in the middle, and a set of extremely strong lighting which could make the entire room brighter than daylight. The lights were effective enough to point out that sunglasses are recommended.

Hearing about this set of performances at the particular set up translated clearly into a photo opportunity. Equipped with my trusty, though somewhat slow Olympus C-8080, I headed out.

The lighting conditions kept changing dynamically throughout the night and every few seconds. Which made the use of flash virtually impossible to set up in time. Aperture priority and lots of snapshots became the immediate tactic, while also trying to get the lighting, musicians and crowed into the composition. Black and white post processing also seemed to add a bit of atmosphere to some images.

Beyond the special event and unique lighting conditions, this was my only attempt so far with band photography, a genre I encounter quite a bit at personal galleries of photographers. It’s actually fun an challenging, as the combination of items and composition is both endless and dynamic.

Have you tried band photography as well? Why not let us all see?

In the French Alps, an area featuring quite a bit of my own photographs since I stayed there most of the summer of 2008, clear streams and waterfalls are not a rare sight. Just in “my neighborhood”,  The Brochaux waterfall and the area surrounding lake Montriond have quite a few spots to check out.

A note on timing (1): When photographing waterfalls and running water in general, it’s a good thing to bring a tripod or find a steady spot. You can then use slow shutter speed in order to give the water a bit of a “foggy” effect, enhancing the sense of movement in the image.

Moving east to the Judean desert, waterfalls, and water in general, aren’t as common. The Judean desert does however enjoy the occasional flash floods. The mountain formation and unique soil contribute to the creation of massive flash floods for just a few hours. You need to either be there on the right time, or pay close attention to the forecast. With good timing it’s not a problem to get there just about on time- although flash floods occur only a few days each year.

A note on timing (2): Flash floods start strong and then grow weaker. I’ve had a good enough timing to catch these floods, but only towards the end- not showing just how powerful these floods can be. the pattern of the stream in the image does, however, show the potential.

And so, my waterfall chasing voyage ends, attaching two very different geographical areas by one identical natural phenomenon.

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