A face with a story
I have named this picture A Face With A Story. It is taken on Gili Air, the smallest of the Gili Islands, Indonesia. It is taken in December 2015. This random l...
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I have named this picture A Face With A Story. It is taken on Gili Air, the smallest of the Gili Islands, Indonesia. It is taken in December 2015. This random local walked up to us, and started talking with us, keen on telling about his life and his island. He was struggling a little with english, but after all did leave with a fine interpretation and understanding.
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Feb, 2016Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
I took this photo on the smallest of the Gili Islands, Gili Air. An tropical island, close to Lombok, Indonesia. It's so small you can walk around it in around an hour. We (the friends I was with, and myself) met this local, who just wanted to chat. His English wasn't that good, but as you all know - with a few words here and there, and a lot of gestures, you can actually make up a conversation.Time
It was around mid day in the area, when I took it.Lighting
As said, it was around mid day when I took it. I took it in natural light. We were walking at this small path on the middle of the island, with trees on both sides, that gave us a little shade. I was then able to push the aperture wide open, without over-exposing the shot.Equipment
I used my beloved Nikon D3x, with my Nikon 24-70mm lens, zoomed in at full 70 mm. Aperture 2,8 and shutter at 1/250.Inspiration
My inspiration was just to get a nice shot of this very friendly man. Also I believe that even though he has probably not been anywhere else than in Indonesia, he has experienced a lot, and met a lot of people. I can see it in his face, that there's a lot of stories to be shared.Editing
I only did a b/w conversion in LR. I pushed and dragged the parameters to get the feeling I wanted. I haven't showed the original to anybody. But I DO like the original colour version as well. However, the impact of this picture, is much bigger in b/w.In my camera bag
I have a Nikon D80, a Nikon D3x, a Black Magic Cinema Camera, and a converter for the latter so I can use my Nikon lenses on it. Then I have a small 18-135 mm for the D80, I have a Sigma 50mm, a Nikon 24-70mm 2.8 (in the entire area), and Sigma 135-400 mm lens. Besides that I have a Sekonic light meter, and then I have my beloved CamRanger for tethered shooting. I also have a Nikon SB-600 flash gun. Add to that 4 batteries for the D3x and 2 for the D80, various cables, hard drives, chargers, card reader, dock stations, and cleaning tools. Soon my bag will also carry the Petzval 85 mm lens from Lomography, for artsy-fartsy portraits.Feedback
First off, be on top of the technical stuff. Know what feeling you want to create, when you see the right motive, and be ready to take the picture. This is basic photography one-on-one. Secondly, if you want to shoot people like this gentleman i've shoot here, study the people around you, and go for "gold". I took a lot of pictures of people when I was in Indonesia, but many of them are "just" pictures. A few comes across with a "wow" feeling. For example, I took a picture of another older man in Indonesia. There was so much sadness in his face, for some reason. It also become a very strong portrait. Don't be shy - go talk with your "subject". Study their faces while talking with them. What is hidden in their faces? Does it give you a feeling that you need to capture? Ask to take a picture (and e prepared to politely accept a no). Then just ask them to be their natural self, and snap the picture. If you want some more out of them, tell them something that will make them laugh, and be quick to shoot a few shoots while they're laughing. Good luck.
