I took this image on the Bathurst bus on the way to show rehearsal last evening. A large, burly man, wedged into his seat, he had a definite presence!
Author: johnmeadowsphotography
An amateur photographer in Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Accidental Backgrounds
In my subway Hipstamatic series, composition is a very quick, furtive process, with not a lot of time to pay too much attention to the background. This fact makes it interesting when background elements such as words add an additional element of meaning to the image. Here are two examples of images where I lucked out with some great accidental backgrounds.
In this image, I like the fact that to the left of the rider’s eyes the words “Soar there” can be seen.
In this image, seeing the words “Crisis link” in the background made it really interesting for me.
Real Character
Let’s face it; the man in today’s image is not likely to be featured on the cover of GQ any time soon. But what a fascinating face! Textures, interesting lines, the sense of biography and the living of a hard working life are all present. He is no Ken Doll: he is much more interesting. I have worked in the past with a lot of models, but this year I need to expand my horizons and capture more images of people who are not conventionally attractive. (They are my tribe, after all: I am not likely to make GQ anytime soon!) In an age where so much visual imagery is used merely to capture pretty people for shallow marketing purposes, it is important to capture this aspect of humanity.
He may not be pretty. But he is real.
Surprise, Part 3
It is easy to get spoiled with medium format film when it comes to fine grain: a larger negative means less magnification, and grain is less apparent, even with higher speed films. In 35mm however it is much more of an issue, and in my workflow which ends with a scanned negative, I was just not happy with my results. My friend Mike suggested TMax developer at 1:9, so I gave that a shot with an unlabelled roll of Tri-X I had kicking around. I was pleased with the grain and sharpness, but also pleasantly surprised to find pictures of my good friends Ken and Bryon; it was like opening a present on Christmas morning 🙂
In his Own World
I made this image with the Hipstamatic app yesterday on a bus. I wonder what he was listening to . . .
Surprise Part 2
Today another image from a forgotten roll of film, which turned out to be from a photowalk in Toronto’s Mount Pleasant Cemetery in 2012. I’m glad I finally got around to developing this roll!
Two Solitudes
Two people on the subway, sitting right beside each other, but in separate worlds.
Surprises
If one develops his or her own film, eventually you build up a pile of film you just never seem to get around to developing; there is always some other roll that is more pressing. If you leave it long enough, you even forgot what was on these neglected rolls, making for fun surprises when you actually do get around to developing. That is the case with today’s image, from a roll I took during the Transit of Venus event at Varsity Stadium at the University of Toronto last year; I had forgotten I had taken this roll.
The Eyes
Another Hipstamatic on the subway. I recommend click on the photo to go to flickr, then view the large size, and see his eyes. They are either looking at me, or through me. I’m not quite sure.
My Third Eye 