Share the story behind one of your best photos
- Thread starter lynnb
- Start date
- Latest activity Latest activity:
- Replies 100
- Views 8K
p.giannakis
Pan Giannakis
In August 2008, I was getting married abroad. My friends traveled all the way from Greece to Poland to attend the wedding ceremony. They took the flight to Berlin and from there on the train to Poznan - I agreed to meet them at the train station.
I had with me an old Zenit 12XP, my mother-in-law found it on the basement of my brother-in-law's new house. Instead of throwing it away she gave it to me and I loaded it with the only black and white film that the little town nearby was selling - ilford XP2.
I had a couple of hours before the train with my friends arrived so i decided to roam around the train station and take some pictures. Got some snaps until i realized two nuns were walking towards me. I was standing next to the staircase that takes you other platforms. They were so deeply engrossed in their conversation that they did not notice me standing above them and take the picture whilst they were going down the stairs.
The lady on the left was so animated but not in an angry way. Spoke in a loud voice and made gestures with her hands. The other one kept quite, minded not to step on her tunic on her way down. Wondered what they were talking about...
I had with me an old Zenit 12XP, my mother-in-law found it on the basement of my brother-in-law's new house. Instead of throwing it away she gave it to me and I loaded it with the only black and white film that the little town nearby was selling - ilford XP2.
I had a couple of hours before the train with my friends arrived so i decided to roam around the train station and take some pictures. Got some snaps until i realized two nuns were walking towards me. I was standing next to the staircase that takes you other platforms. They were so deeply engrossed in their conversation that they did not notice me standing above them and take the picture whilst they were going down the stairs.
The lady on the left was so animated but not in an angry way. Spoke in a loud voice and made gestures with her hands. The other one kept quite, minded not to step on her tunic on her way down. Wondered what they were talking about...
Scrambler
Well-known
Thankyou. It's a flatbed scan of the negative. I came to do it under glass but can't recall if this was done that way or with the negative holders.
gnuyork
Well-known
This is probably my all-time favorite photo that I have taken. I took this in early 2013, and I had been living with ALS for around 6 years by then. At that point I could still walk very short distances, but I couldn't lift a camera up to my eye. I had just loaded a test roll into a recently serviced Pentax KM, and needed to shoot it to make sure it was working correctly. My 5 year old daughter was playing in the back yard on her trampoline, so I walked out, set the camera to 1/500 f/8 (IIRC), preset the focus to around 12 feet (35mm lens), and just held the camera at my waist and shot. I shot 2 frames, this is the 2nd one and is pretty much as shot with no cropping or rotation.
This September, this photo will be in two galleries (one in London, UK. and one in Johnson City, Tennessee) as part of a Film Shooters Collective curated group show.
This photo is fantastic.
Schuter
Established
I'm enjoying this thread...Thank you, Lynn, for conceiving it.
This image is one of my favorites, if only for the memories it invokes. I was living and working in Madrid, Spain in the early '90s. I left work around 5:00 every evening and wandered the streets of downtown Madrid photographing everything. One of my favorite areas was Puerta Del Sol, a main plaza in the center of the city. This lady was there every day, feeding the pigeons, and had been doing that for years. She had names for dozens of them, and was even able to identify parent-offspring relationships among the pigeons. This pigeon was named Pirriquin.
Minolta X-700, Probably 135mm lens, Ilford XP1
This image is one of my favorites, if only for the memories it invokes. I was living and working in Madrid, Spain in the early '90s. I left work around 5:00 every evening and wandered the streets of downtown Madrid photographing everything. One of my favorite areas was Puerta Del Sol, a main plaza in the center of the city. This lady was there every day, feeding the pigeons, and had been doing that for years. She had names for dozens of them, and was even able to identify parent-offspring relationships among the pigeons. This pigeon was named Pirriquin.
Minolta X-700, Probably 135mm lens, Ilford XP1
peterm1
Veteran
I don't know that this is my "best" photo (not sure I have one - there are many I like) but it certainly IS one I like. Like many of my shots it demonstrates the benefits of carrying a camera at all times - I seldom know in advance what I intend shooting. On this occasion, I was in a small coffee shop in a nearby Adelaide Hills town having a coffee on my own. This was not a photographic expedition. I was sitting outside on an enclosed verandah and noticed the people around me and inside. This photo was pure serendipity - as are many that turn out well. While I liked the expression of the main subject, and this was a reason for making the shot, I had not really noticed how nice the window reflections, lighting and shadows were till I got the image onto my computer screen. That is about all that can be said - like they say: "have a camera and be there" is good advice for making good images. The camera by the way was an Olympus OM D EM5. The lens details and lens aperture are not recorded in EXIF so I probably was using a legacy lens with an adapter but do not recall. It was processed in Paintshop Pro.
Cafe Study 15 by Life in Shadows, on Flickr
I also like this one very much. Its a "nothing" photo in the sense that there is no point or message to it - it is just one I like very much because of the mix of people and its light/shadows and reflections. It was shot at the same location and under near identical circumstances (me, coffee, a camera and time to kill) shot a few weeks later than the previous one but in this case looking in the opposite direction -towards the outside rather than the inside. The image was not shot directly - it is actually a photo of a reflection in the window a technique I particularly like for its added artistic interpretation and interest.
Cafe Study by Life in Shadows, on Flickr
Cafe Study 15 by Life in Shadows, on FlickrSave
Save
Save
Save
Save
I also like this one very much. Its a "nothing" photo in the sense that there is no point or message to it - it is just one I like very much because of the mix of people and its light/shadows and reflections. It was shot at the same location and under near identical circumstances (me, coffee, a camera and time to kill) shot a few weeks later than the previous one but in this case looking in the opposite direction -towards the outside rather than the inside. The image was not shot directly - it is actually a photo of a reflection in the window a technique I particularly like for its added artistic interpretation and interest.
Cafe Study by Life in Shadows, on FlickrSave
Save
Save
lynnb
Veteran
Schuter, wonderful photo. And Colton, yours too.
And others too - this thread is exceeding my expectations!
And others too - this thread is exceeding my expectations!
x-ray
Veteran
I'm enjoying this thread...Thank you, Lynn, for conceiving it.
This image is one of my favorites, if only for the memories it invokes. I was living and working in Madrid, Spain in the early '90s. I left work around 5:00 every evening and wandered the streets of downtown Madrid photographing everything. One of my favorite areas was Puerta Del Sol, a main plaza in the center of the city. This lady was there every day, feeding the pigeons, and had been doing that for years. She had names for dozens of them, and was even able to identify parent-offspring relationships among the pigeons. This pigeon was named Pirriquin.
Minolta X-700, Probably 135mm lens, Ilford XP1
Really nice image!
Phil_F_NM
Camera hacker
I have so many that have personal feelings associated with them and happen to be good photographs too but the one that is probably the most important I took is this one following.
Sometime in mid-November, 2004, Fallujah, Iraq. My squad is on patrol on a side street just off MSR Michigan, maybe ten or so blocks from the Euphrates river. I'm right behind a squad-mate, Petty Officer Dickenson and I see a few photos up ahead of him on the ground. I catch up to him, compose, focus, compose, click, wind, click. This is the second photo. I took it with my Leica M4 and a DR Summicron. Film was decade expired Plus-X, developed in ID-11.
Phil Forrest
Sometime in mid-November, 2004, Fallujah, Iraq. My squad is on patrol on a side street just off MSR Michigan, maybe ten or so blocks from the Euphrates river. I'm right behind a squad-mate, Petty Officer Dickenson and I see a few photos up ahead of him on the ground. I catch up to him, compose, focus, compose, click, wind, click. This is the second photo. I took it with my Leica M4 and a DR Summicron. Film was decade expired Plus-X, developed in ID-11.
Phil Forrest
Schuter
Established
Lynn, X-Ray,
Thank you for your kind words...All of the images posted so far certainly stand on their own with no explanation necessary. That said, I am enjoying reading the backstory behind each one. Long live this thread.
Thank you for your kind words...All of the images posted so far certainly stand on their own with no explanation necessary. That said, I am enjoying reading the backstory behind each one. Long live this thread.
michaelwj
----------------
A bit intimidating with everything that's been before, starting with Lynn's excellent shot, but here goes...
This shot is one I have won some awards for, and is framed in my parents house. It's the photo that I've had the most positive feedback on, but despite that, I don't have it hanging in my house, and I don't have an emotional connection to it. However, it represents a pivotal moment for me in photography.
It is a shot of the South Curl Curl pool, on the northern beaches of Sydney at night, during a big southerly storm. My parents live just across the road from it, you can see the pool from there living room. I'd had the idea of getting this shot of the pool for quite a while, but whenever I'd shot it through the day or in colour it never worked. At one point I had an idea of what I wanted the phot to look like, I needed a big storm at night, and the surf flowing around the pool would give me the look I wanted during a long exposure. When the conditions were right, I ran down and shot a roll and the shot turned out how I had imagined.
This was the first time that I had pre visualised what I wanted the end result to look like and had managed to execute my vision as I had hoped. Interestingly it also marked a step away from shooting colour (I hadn't shot much before this shot) and a move away from shooting landscapes and more towards shooting people. It is essentially the last good "landscape" photo I took, and the first good black and white photo I took.
M6, CV 2.5/35, Tmax100, 30sec @ f/11.
This shot is one I have won some awards for, and is framed in my parents house. It's the photo that I've had the most positive feedback on, but despite that, I don't have it hanging in my house, and I don't have an emotional connection to it. However, it represents a pivotal moment for me in photography.
It is a shot of the South Curl Curl pool, on the northern beaches of Sydney at night, during a big southerly storm. My parents live just across the road from it, you can see the pool from there living room. I'd had the idea of getting this shot of the pool for quite a while, but whenever I'd shot it through the day or in colour it never worked. At one point I had an idea of what I wanted the phot to look like, I needed a big storm at night, and the surf flowing around the pool would give me the look I wanted during a long exposure. When the conditions were right, I ran down and shot a roll and the shot turned out how I had imagined.
This was the first time that I had pre visualised what I wanted the end result to look like and had managed to execute my vision as I had hoped. Interestingly it also marked a step away from shooting colour (I hadn't shot much before this shot) and a move away from shooting landscapes and more towards shooting people. It is essentially the last good "landscape" photo I took, and the first good black and white photo I took.
M6, CV 2.5/35, Tmax100, 30sec @ f/11.
Richard G
Veteran
Picked this in my Gallery picks a couple of weeks ago. Great story. A fitting tribute to Lynn's idea for this thread as he's taken a few here too.
michaelwj
----------------
Thanks Richard, I saw that and was suitably chuffed. Lynn lives just around the corner as it turns out!
Keith
The best camera is one that still works!
One of my best portraits (for me) which unfortunately turned bad. I was asked to take some photographs by the subject and made the trip to her area and found a suitable location with the light I was looking for, then took a series of shots on a Sunday morning. She initially liked them ... then decided she didn't and what followed was a very unpleasant experience ... verbal abuse on line etc and the whole process made me a little wary of photographing people who's backgrounds I was unfamiliar with.
I have no regrets but in hindsight there are times when one would better be advised photographing unicorns.
I have no regrets but in hindsight there are times when one would better be advised photographing unicorns.
BernardL
Well-known
Between 2010 and 2013 I made several trips to the Very Large Telescope (VLT) of Europe's Southern Observatories (ESO) in the desertic Northern Chile. Sometimes, I would shift the return flight to France by a couple of days and use these on my own to explore the lost mines around Antofagasta or, further north, near Iquique, with a couple cameras and a supply of film. On the last trip, in Nov 2013, I planned no such margin for free time, but as a matter of principle took with me my GSW645 and a few rolls of Neopan400.
Having worked diligently and met no major problem, I finished the planned tasks one day early. And... a colleague had a reserved taxi to Antofagasta (2hr drive), early morning. So I went along, rented a car at the airport, and back into the desert. Discovered that place I had passed by previously: Chacabuco. One of the many abandoned nitrate mines, with a special history: used as a detention camp under the Pinochet dictatorship. The tourist buses had come and gone in the morning, and, that afternoon, I had the place all to myself, and an interesting chat with the keeper.
Anyway, in ~2 hours, I went through 3 rolls of Neopan400/120, then back to Antofagasta to catch the evening plane to Santiago. Once developed, I was pleased with the results. If I have to single out one of the images, it is the one below. The rest can be seen on http://www.ipernity.com/doc/1784150/album/825676 (some from previous trips, including at Humberstone and Santa Laura).
Having worked diligently and met no major problem, I finished the planned tasks one day early. And... a colleague had a reserved taxi to Antofagasta (2hr drive), early morning. So I went along, rented a car at the airport, and back into the desert. Discovered that place I had passed by previously: Chacabuco. One of the many abandoned nitrate mines, with a special history: used as a detention camp under the Pinochet dictatorship. The tourist buses had come and gone in the morning, and, that afternoon, I had the place all to myself, and an interesting chat with the keeper.
Anyway, in ~2 hours, I went through 3 rolls of Neopan400/120, then back to Antofagasta to catch the evening plane to Santiago. Once developed, I was pleased with the results. If I have to single out one of the images, it is the one below. The rest can be seen on http://www.ipernity.com/doc/1784150/album/825676 (some from previous trips, including at Humberstone and Santa Laura).
gnuyork
Well-known
This is probably my personal favorite of mine. I was still in college but home for a fall break and went to a farm market with my family (and girlfriend at the time if I recall) to select a pumpkin for Halloween. The photo was later published that year (along with another) in a calendar contest and it was the 2nd place photo.
I shot it with my dad's Minolta SRT 201 and a Rokkor 50 1.8 (which he gave to me recently) on Plus X (miss this film!) Developed in D76. Taken circa 1996 in Homer, NY.
This is a scan, obviously. I tried to mimic in Photoshop the steps I took to make the final print. I remember in college having only one sheet of paper left to make this print, and I took a long time and a lot of scraps to make test strips for where and how much I needed to dodge or burn. I made very detailed notes in a notebook that I still have somewhere of all of my test strip results, I sketched the scene of the photos an added +secs or -secs in specific areas so when it came time to make the print I would not mess it up. I had one chance! I still have the print stored somewhere. I should get it out, frame it and hang it up.
I shot it with my dad's Minolta SRT 201 and a Rokkor 50 1.8 (which he gave to me recently) on Plus X (miss this film!) Developed in D76. Taken circa 1996 in Homer, NY.
This is a scan, obviously. I tried to mimic in Photoshop the steps I took to make the final print. I remember in college having only one sheet of paper left to make this print, and I took a long time and a lot of scraps to make test strips for where and how much I needed to dodge or burn. I made very detailed notes in a notebook that I still have somewhere of all of my test strip results, I sketched the scene of the photos an added +secs or -secs in specific areas so when it came time to make the print I would not mess it up. I had one chance! I still have the print stored somewhere. I should get it out, frame it and hang it up.
Bob Michaels
nobody special
Vinales Cuba is a top tourist destination. 99.9% of the tourists spend a day or two viewing the incredible valleys, sheer rock faces, prehistoric painting, take a horseback ride through the tobacco fields and then leave. The closest they come to the people is buying some cigars from a local who rolls them at home from the world famous leaf they grow there.
About 6-7 years ago I was walking down the big hill from the local graveyard and spied an old man and woman under a tree in their backyard taking a break from rebuilding their house. I had to go visit and first met Manolo, a pig farmer. He had never met a foreigner before and believed that if he leaned close enough in my face and spoke loud enough that I could understand his Spanish. I always go visit and photograph them whenever I am in town. This photo was from a later visit when he ran down and caught a baby pig for my photo. I learned he was 97 years old then. I still stop and visit, bringing my sister and Cuban significant other to meet him last year. After I photographed Manolo and my sister she said the expression on her face was because he was feeling her ass as I was taking the photo. I have many photos of Manolo but this is one of my favorites.
camera geek ****: Shot with a Zeiss Ikon RF using either a Hexanon 28 f2.8 or a ZI 28mm f2.8 using either Neopan 400, HP5 or Tri-X. I am sure the experts can pick out which lens and which film.
About 6-7 years ago I was walking down the big hill from the local graveyard and spied an old man and woman under a tree in their backyard taking a break from rebuilding their house. I had to go visit and first met Manolo, a pig farmer. He had never met a foreigner before and believed that if he leaned close enough in my face and spoke loud enough that I could understand his Spanish. I always go visit and photograph them whenever I am in town. This photo was from a later visit when he ran down and caught a baby pig for my photo. I learned he was 97 years old then. I still stop and visit, bringing my sister and Cuban significant other to meet him last year. After I photographed Manolo and my sister she said the expression on her face was because he was feeling her ass as I was taking the photo. I have many photos of Manolo but this is one of my favorites.
camera geek ****: Shot with a Zeiss Ikon RF using either a Hexanon 28 f2.8 or a ZI 28mm f2.8 using either Neopan 400, HP5 or Tri-X. I am sure the experts can pick out which lens and which film.
peterm1
Veteran
This is one of my more conventional photos that I really like. Near Adelaide South Australia in the Adelaide Hills, some wonderful scenery can be found especially in Spring and Winter when all is green. The problem is capturing it because of its sweeping, panoramic nature - rolling hills and distant scenery interspersed with trees and vines. This shot was taken on a hilltop above the village of Lenswood from a location beside a lovely restaurant (named after its associated winery - Pike and Joyce) which I had the good fortune to attend with friends for a leisurely lunch on this day. To get the full effect, I took a series of I think 4 shots and then used Microsoft's I.C.E. panoramic software (available free on the web). It would have to be one of my favourite landscapes. Click to bring up a larger image for the full effect.
Vines and sky by Life in Shadows, on Flickr
Vines and sky by Life in Shadows, on Flickr
giganova
Well-known
Wonderful thread -- keep it coming!
jazzwave
Well-known
One of my fav
I love the framing, smoke, etc..
Sadly...This beautiful place destroyed by earthquake one month after I shoot this picture.
~ron~
I love the framing, smoke, etc..
Sadly...This beautiful place destroyed by earthquake one month after I shoot this picture.
~ron~
Similar threads
