"Self Nursing"
Nov, 2014Views
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Winner in Breathtaking Portraits Photo Challenge
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
The photo was taken during my short trip to Bulgaria, Varna. The location was actually around the central church, though it is not visible from scene.Time
I arrived to city in early morning after 8 hours trip. The day before I was at work all day long. So had a need to get some sleep. Because of this I went out by late day time. Prior to go out I needed to review the map and get my bearings. Fortunately it was summer time, so at 5:00 PM, when I arrived to city center, it was still bright and excellent time of the day to take photos.Lighting
It was late afternoon, so the Sun had a bit warm colour. The location where the woman was sitting - under trees, was keeping her away from direct sun lights. I think lighting conditions were ideal for such spontaneous shot. Her bright coloured face was well lit and the dark background was making her face more distinct.Equipment
I was with Canon 70D and Canon 28mm f/2.8 IS USM which I keep on camera by default.Inspiration
I think this one is the most important part of photo than light or time taking this photo. Sure they also played important role..but not as much as the whole scene, which touched me with its drama. I was sitting on another bench, beside to hers when I realized her nursing herself. I looked at her cautiously to not disturb the her peace but also to understand what she was exactly healing, and why she was doing it on her own in public place - in the center of the city. But I couldn't find out the answer to my question. That is still mystery for me. But the fact was - she was doing on her own and whole ambiance was very touching. It was a drama: just ten meters away there were well-dressed, happy, laughing people disturb the peace for the marriage of a new couple, while an alone woman not far from the crowd was suffering from a pain silently and trying to heal herself helplessly... I was so touched that didn't even think that moment to take that shoot. The only thing I wanted - was to help her. I looked at my pockets - had some amount of local currency. Not much actually, but could possibly help her in some way. So I approached and handled her it. She had a look with a thankful way. I showed with my hand the camera and with mimics asked her would she like if I take her portrait. Her reaction was silent with no rejection, so I understood that she doesn't mind it.Editing
Photo was taken in colour. I didn't want to loose that moment by changing color mode. It is always possible to convert it to black, which I did after then. Though I used minimal available aperture, but 2.8 appeared not sufficient due to less distance from background. For that reason processed background with more blur and used some sharpening filter for woman and her face.In my camera bag
Mostly I take with me Canon 28mm f/2.8 IS USM, Canon 18-55 f/3.5-5.6 IS STM, Canon 40mm f/2.8 STM together with Canon 70D body. Rarely carry also Canon 50mm f/1.8 with me. Usually my small rucksack gets filled also with flash, remote control and travel tripod.Feedback
This was a spontaneous shot. It happens suddenly so it is impossible to guess in advance, for that reason hard to give any advices. Probably my advice would be generic - to keep camera always ready and turned on for sudden moments. To keep turned on with sleep function so that you need just to half-press shutter button to awake up, rather than searching for switch to power on.
