Pensive
I just happened to look to my left. (In the Vatican.)
I just happened to look to my left. (In the Vatican.)
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Dec, 2015Views
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Awards
Winner in Places of Worship Photo Challenge
Peer Award
Superb Composition
All Star
Top Choice
Magnificent Capture
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
I think this was taken in St. Peter's Basilica. I know that sounds strange; who wouldn't remember taking a picture in The Vatican, but this was a particularly spur of the moment shot. We weren't in an "important" tourist type location right then. We may have been moving, in fact, from St. Peter's to the Vatican Museum at the time...Time
I have no idea what time of day it was, and, since it's indoors, that's obviously totally irrelevant. I do remember, however, glancing to the left as I was walking along and stopping dead in my tracks while everyone else in the group [mostly students] walked on. "Oh! Wow! Look at that!" I thought to myself.Lighting
Everything about this image was in place when I took it, including the light descending from the upper left onto the highly polished floor. It's already an awe inspiring setting.Equipment
I took this with my little travel camera, an Olympus Stylus Tough 6020, and pretty much let it do all the thinking for me. I was afraid the priest(?) would move before I could get the picture taken, so I just pulled out the camera, held it up, held my breath(!), and clicked.! I almost never, never, never use any flash. When I take a picture, it's usually because something about the light out there, right then, just the way it is, has captured me.Inspiration
The priest had paused for some reason in that wonderfully pensive pose, in that incredibly marvelous setting, and I just happened to see him do it. I have no idea what was going on in his head--praying, planning, worrying?--but our small group was far enough away from him that he appeared unaware of our existence, caught up as he was in the moment. The whole moment simply spoke to my bone marrow.Editing
I don't think I did a single thing to this image. I may have played with the exposure slide a tiny bit just to see what would happen--and then decided, no, that isn't what I was seeing then. This is it.In my camera bag
Bag? I hate carrying "stuff" around, but since I hope to get a "big girl" camera someday, I'll probably have to come to some sort of compromise with this idea. The little Olympus lived in my pocket any time I traveled (as does its most common current replacement, my iPhone).Feedback
For me, photography is literally a recording of photons, a way of preserving a particular instance of light--as I am experiencing it at the time. Sometimes, the little cameras I use "guess wrong" about what it is I am seeing, and I'll need to tinker a tiny bit to get to "my" image of the scene, but I do that as little as possible. I will occasionally truly play with some images I get to see what happens if I shove the contrast to "this" and the saturation to "that," but that's just playing. Most of the time, if I am wanting something that isn't "really there," I'll do it in acrylics or pastels myself. The camera and my eye--those are something unique. My eyes can't preserve what they see except in my memory, but the camera can! And I like to share what I see.
