The Wanderer & AJ
The Wanderer & AJ
Wanderer, Johan "Cheetah" Goosen, has been on the streets for the past 12 years. In an interview with him, he says at first it ...
Read more
The Wanderer & AJ
Wanderer, Johan "Cheetah" Goosen, has been on the streets for the past 12 years. In an interview with him, he says at first it was something that has befallen him, but now; he would not give it up.
For the past 4 years, Cheetah has not been alone though. He shares every moment with his trusty friend and protector, AJ his extremely healthy and beautiful dog.
AJ is one of the best behaving dogs I have come across in a long time. He is obedient and loving, but then at times; share the intense appearance of someone with knowledge and wisdom. And alike his master, maybe just having seen a little too much on the street.
Johan tells me, he has never been a victim of crime; then gets a serious look on his face, "but, I have seen people killed right in front of me."
It was an awesome experience; and I hope to share more photos over the next couple of days.
Bookings: thys@mattsterntalents.com
More about this story coming to www.facebook-matt.stern.photography- soon
Read less
Wanderer, Johan "Cheetah" Goosen, has been on the streets for the past 12 years. In an interview with him, he says at first it was something that has befallen him, but now; he would not give it up.
For the past 4 years, Cheetah has not been alone though. He shares every moment with his trusty friend and protector, AJ his extremely healthy and beautiful dog.
AJ is one of the best behaving dogs I have come across in a long time. He is obedient and loving, but then at times; share the intense appearance of someone with knowledge and wisdom. And alike his master, maybe just having seen a little too much on the street.
Johan tells me, he has never been a victim of crime; then gets a serious look on his face, "but, I have seen people killed right in front of me."
It was an awesome experience; and I hope to share more photos over the next couple of days.
Bookings: thys@mattsterntalents.com
More about this story coming to www.facebook-matt.stern.photography- soon
Read less
Apr, 2014Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
Like most of my photos, this was done on location. I selected a location just outside Springs (ZA) at an abandoned building.Time
I shot this just after midday. I collected Johan "Cheetha" Goosen around 10 am; but since they live on the streets, I wanted to make sure that he and AJ his dog had something in their tummies before we take some photos.Lighting
A photographer worth his salt will always consider light, it is all about the light hitting the sensor. The photo-shoot took place over the midday hours to bring the strong contrast I needed to tell the story of the subjects' life with no roof over their head. To balance the image out a bit, I used a single off-camera flash fitted with a small soft-box to diffuse the artificial light I was introducing on the shadow side, without completely losing shadows or the detail in the shadows. Image detail: Shot at 1/100 sec on F8 with ISO on 200 at 55mm and WB on Daylight.Equipment
I have been using a Canon camera since I started in January 2013. First I had the 600D, then the 650D and this image was taken on my latest; the Canon EOS 700D. I used my kit lens the Canon EF-S 18-55mm F/3.5-5.6 IS STM and a Nissin Di622 Mark II Flash. Camera was on a tripod, triggered with a remote wireless trigger while the flash fitted with NG -280 Flash Soft Box, was mounted slightly higher than the subjects head on a light stand. At the time my kit was limited to kit lenses and entry level accessories. My motto: If you don't have what you need to get the image, use what you have cleverly to get the best image you can keeping post-processing in mind.Inspiration
This is a bit of a story. I saw Johan "Cheetah" Goosen and his dog AJ outside a mini supermarket close to my house. Johan was trying to get some money together from visitors to the supermarket. While Johan was interacting with the people, AJ was sitting at Johan's Back Pack; I suppose guarding everything they owned. I approached Johan, contributed towards his supper and enquired whether he would be interested to do a shoot with me. He told me that it wasn't the first time a photographer has approached him, and that he and AJ would love to do a shoot with me. Johan and AJ lives on the street; and at the time was hanging around in my area for a court case. AJ defended Johan and bit an attacker; and the attacker pressed charges. (Since then, the case went in AJ's favour, and the two of them is still free to roam the streets; and sleep under the starry South African Sky) Both Johan and AJ inspired me to do this shoot, because it spoke of more than just a disabled man with his dog; it spoke of companionship. Johan admits that he prefer this way of life; but I got the sense that he has merely made peace with his way of life. He enjoys his beer, but says that AJ's needs comes before any of his needs; and AJ's coat is testament to that. Their story needed to be told; and this image here tells it the best. If you look past AJ in this image, you will see that Johan's hands don't look normal; that is because he only has two fingers on each hand; making his hands appear more claw-like than anything else. Johan rescued AJ from malnutrition; and in return, AJ has removed loneliness from Johan's life. Isn't that a story you would like to tell?Editing
Post-processing, the big discussion for digital photography; and I am glad I get a chance to respond to this. In the days of film photography, the dark room was crucial and an integral part of photography; yet, in digital photography, purest says it is all about "in camera." I disagree. I approach each photo in post-processing to discover what it "needs" to be as perfect as my skill permits. post-processing is my darkroom, where I transform the image to what I want it to be. This image was processed to have a grungy, detailed, yet photo realistic feel. I shoot in RAW only, so I really push the boundaries in both shadows and highlights to give a high dynamic range in the image. I bump the image with clarity (around +40 on the clarity slider in Lightroom), while restricting the sharpness to around 50 at 1.1 pixels with a 75 to 80% mask. Noise reduction on Luminance is around 40. Once I have a natural image with High Dynamic Range, I export to process in Photoshop. In Photoshop I run my custom filters, which is basically just B&W layers with light filters set to Luminance. Once I have found the light balance I want; the final top layer is B&W and adjust the opacity to give me the saturation I want for the image. Each image is processed differently, and while I use the same principles in processing; the image determines what gets done.In my camera bag
Much has changed since I took this photo; and so has the contents of my bag. Firstly; I recently won the Naneu Adventure K4L V2 bag in a Pixoto Professional Selfie contest, so I have 35L to my disposal; although I mostly use the removable pod as my camera bag. In my bag you will usually find the following: Canon EOS 700D Canon EF 70-200mm 1:2.8 L Ultrasonic Lens Canon EF 50mm 1:1.8 II Lens Canon EF-S 17-85mm Ultrasonic Lens Nissin Di622 Mark II Speedlite Two batteries for my Camera and hordes batteries for my flash A micro-fibre cloth and business cards. I usually have a backup bag in my car with the Canon Xti (400D) and my two kit lenses, the 18-55mm and the 55-250mm; with my Polaroid XS100 action camera should I want to do a bit of behind the scenes. In the adventure bag I usually have my Flash Soft-box, a 5-1 Circular 109cm reflector and diffuser set, my camera tripod, a hot-shoe fitted light stand; two clamps, a jacket and an energy drink. Lol, I think that about covers what is close to me 24/7/365. Expect the unexpected, carry on you what is necessary; the rest just need to be close enough to fetch if you really need it.Feedback
The best advice I can give on this matter is to know your abilities and to work within that frame. Take time to get to know something about your subject; build a trust with your subject human and/or animal. If you know their story, you will be able to capture it better. Check the available light and think of how you can add to it, even if it is an "ugly room" set-up. For this type of image, make sure the shadows are natural especially across the face; and have your subject face pointed towards the light source (sun in this case), leaving natural shadows facing the lens. If the shadows are to hard, bounce light in at the shadows with a reflective surface or using your flash to fill light into the shadow areas. Do not use the flash on camera, as it will "flatten" the image and create unwanted shadows framing the subject. Take your first image on "Auto" or on the "P" setting. Look at the settings your camera selected to capture the image best; then dial those settings in on "Manual" and tweak it from there to get what you want. If you shoot at the lower shutter speeds, mount your camera on a tripod or place it on a steady surface. If you battle with focus, use the auto focus to find focus; then flip the manual focus on without moving the camera too much and tweak the focus manually from there. Once you have all that in place; you only need minor adjustments as you do your shoot.
