Friday, April 10, 2009

Birth of the Accidental Tourist

Ok - today it officially rained. The definition of rain is when I have to pull out the umbrella. My body is officially tired from pounding the pavement for three days straight - 12 hours with full gear, makes for quite a work out.

Flat, low hanging cloud make for boring skies and evens the light out to much. I ask my self - how am I to find the light and get that great shot with such grey skies? Well - of course, I start with the basics and work from there.

Now don't laugh Maureen / David - but yes, I had to ask myself ....

"How does this place make me feel?"

Answer:
Crowed and in desparate need of personal space. Anyone who has traveled extensively in Europe, will know that their sence of personal space is much closer than say us North Americans. Guess that is due to the fact that they don't have a lot of space compared to the massive unspoiled Canaidian rock. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get away from the crowds, and as they say, if you can't lose them, join them. This is when I became an accidental tourist and thus ..... the inspiration to my London trip.....

Concept:
When observing my surroundings I couldn't help but notice the massive cheesie tourist shots people would take. They would stand staight as a log pole in front of the iconic tourist spot and their partner / friend would snap a shot. This is how the accidental tourist concept was born, Based on a photo technique I used while shooting for the "Building Stories" project, I started including the tourists.

The more I thought about this - the more I loved it - what a great concept! Compose the shot with life and motion and try to single out one person posing in front of the subject matter of choice. It really embodies the vibe that downtown London gave. If one thing that London does well, is market it's royal charms internationally to the world - seeing close to 15 million vistors annualy.

I can't wait to get home and post a pix to show you what I mean. But now must retire to the room that has a smaller foot print than my 1 1/2 man tent - early morning, must catch the 9 am train to Bath.

1 comment:

  1. That's too funny! We took in a about a dozen mills, a few lighthouses, and even a few waterfalls. A great weekend. Found some new unmarked mills and waterfalls we didn't know about too.

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