anna bella betts photography
  • Home
  • Tours
    • Memories of Angkor
    • Siem Reap Photo Walks
  • Portfolio
    • Portraits
    • Events
    • Product & location shoot
    • Something Yummy
  • Gallery
    • Photo Stories
    • Abstract
    • Life and Travel >
      • European spring
      • European summer
      • Glimpses from homeland
      • Urban
      • People
      • Temples
      • Street art and street life
      • Waves
      • Just Get Me There
    • Nature >
      • Landscapes, nature
      • He loves me, he loves me not...
      • Closer...
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact
  • Home
  • Tours
    • Memories of Angkor
    • Siem Reap Photo Walks
  • Portfolio
    • Portraits
    • Events
    • Product & location shoot
    • Something Yummy
  • Gallery
    • Photo Stories
    • Abstract
    • Life and Travel >
      • European spring
      • European summer
      • Glimpses from homeland
      • Urban
      • People
      • Temples
      • Street art and street life
      • Waves
      • Just Get Me There
    • Nature >
      • Landscapes, nature
      • He loves me, he loves me not...
      • Closer...
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact

Outside your comfort zone

31/1/2014

0 Comments

 
It’s Thursday evening and I am feeling uncomfortable, trying to balance the issues in my universe with a chocolate cake and a glass of wine. It’s not working. I have only couple of days left to come up with something for my next challenge which is “out of my comfort zone” – in terms of photography technique or topic or the photographer himself/herself feeling uncomfortable in the act of taking the picture. Sigh.

What makes me feel uncomfortable in the photography world?

It is indeed overdone HDR but I do not want to venture down that road. Tastefully executed HDR photos are fine and I look forward to those in other people’s submissions.

Another nemesis of mine is “pretend photo journalism” equaling capturing poverty or controversial social or political issues for pure gain of fame / money / both with little or none whatsoever return to the subject. I am not going to travel to the rubbish dump of Siem Reap to capture the miserable life of those living off the scraps of the city folk as this has been done before to highlight the said misery – without revealing also the positives and the help that is provided to those living in the harsh conditions.  I am not going to capture the non-glamorous nightlife in the Asian cities and nor am I going to take a slice off the “orphanage tourism” pie – life in Asia is one big controversy and surely great stories along with powerful pictures are to be had almost on every corner but I believe in researching the topic and then coming up with something little more complex than a simple caption leaving the viewer hanging in the air. It is almost too easy to generate emotion with pictures of struggle, abuse, poverty, misery and the like and today’s world is full of them.

I feel nauseous viewing overly cheesy wedding or family photography so let’s steer clear of that as it is definitely an issue of taste and also fashion stamp of the times we live in. Luckily there are many talented photographers who manage to take great lifestyle shots leaving me with assurance that there is hope. This is also only my humble opinion on the matter.

I don’t really have issues with snapping photos of strangers. I enjoy low light photography and experiments with speed – capturing movement or movement blur. I am not saying am the master of all but these topics are definitely in my comfort zone. Crouching in the undergrowth in search of 8 legged creatures with many (eight at times) eyes comes close to being a pleasure so I won’t be able to use this venture either.

At this stage I think my “uncomfortable zone” will be setting the alarm to “silly o’clock”, dragging my sorry body out of bed and fueled by a shock dose of caffeine head out before the big red ball makes appearance on the horizon. I have not seen many of those as I like my pillow too much.

Watch this space…

Hello Friday....

Well, I have snoozed and snoozed and have not left my bed in time for sunrise. Too bad and expected…. Who was I kidding?  I took a picture of my bed to prove that getting up itself is in fact leaving my comfort zone. 


Picture

But that would be getting away too lightly. Being in a self-punishing mood I have grabbed my tripod and headed to the local markets. The light there is difficult, the place is crammed, smelly and hot, fish and shoes and bananas are all on display in the same section and if that’s not uncomfortable then I don’t know what is. My presence with my three legged friend made the trip to the market uncomfortable for others too – do I get any extra points for this? I suspect not. I decided to play with the shutter speed and blur the human element while focusing (mainly) on chicken feet with my own feet unsteady on the slippery and wet floor…. While I am somewhat immune to similar sights and smells I must admit that I was grateful for my slightly clogged up nose as normally the smell of fish and meat in the middle of the day is rather overpowering.

Below is a handful of market shots and these will be similar all over Cambodia.  I will pick one before Sunday deadline.

Would you like a chicken claw with that?

Picture
Picture

Picture
Picture
Picture

Picture
Picture
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    anna bella betts

    Never still, always on the move, looking for the perfect capture... Cambodia is currently my home, presenting endless opportunities....

    Warning

    In this blog you will find no profound wisdom. 
    Just accounts of daily life, sometimes about photography, often about wine, occasionally about travel adventures  and sometimes about nothing at all. 
    So enjoy. 

    Archives

    March 2018
    September 2017
    December 2016
    September 2016
    July 2016
    February 2016
    November 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    April 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    December 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012

    Categories

    All
    Adventure
    Angkor
    Bagan
    Batneay Chhmar
    Battambang
    Black And White
    Burma
    Cambodia
    Cardamom Mountains
    Cassava
    Cats
    Czech
    Decay
    Driving Skills
    Dry Season
    Getaway
    Good Hair Day
    Green Rice Fields
    Hair Cuts
    Hairdressing
    Hike
    Holiday
    Home Stays
    Inle Lake
    Khmer Bride Outfit
    Kulen Mountain
    Mahendraparvata
    Make Up
    Myanmar
    Pagodas
    People
    Pepsi Factory
    Photography
    Photography Workshop
    Photo Tours
    Photo Walk
    Photowalking
    Rainbow Lodge
    River
    Siem Reap
    Street Photography
    Summer
    Tatai
    Traffic
    Travel
    Urban
    Wat Atvea
    Weather
    Wet Season
    Winter
    Yangon

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.