SDuffyPhotography.blog

Some site news and updates!

I want to thank all of my readers again for staying with me despite my irregular blogging schedule. I just wanted to update all of you on a few things while I have a couple days to breathe between trips.

Regular Features

Oh what a bad blogger I’ve been! As you may have noticed, my regular features (Photo of the Week and Friday Link Love) were not published this week. Given my short time between trips, I’ve been spending time making sure everything is in order for the next trip. In addition, I’ve been busy with work obligations that I need to wrap up before I leave and, most importantly, I’ve been trying to spend some quality time with my girlfriend… away from the computer. These regular features will begin again once I return to the States at the beginning of July.

However, don’t let that stop you from submitting your photos to the Let’s Quit Our Day Jobs Flickr group! There have been some fantastic submissions over the last couple weeks and I can’t wait to go through all of them when I get back!

My India Photos

As I mentioned yesterday, all of my India photos have been uploaded to Flickr. In addition, I’ve also uploaded what I believe to be the best ones to my online gallery over at SmugMug. So, if you’re interested in purchasing any of the India photos, just click on the banner below to visit my online gallery:

Spreading the Love

I try to make a point to spread the love to my fellow bloggers and photographers. You guys come up with some amazing content and photographs and I love being able to comment on them and linking to them. Of course, given my hectic travel schedule in the past month and for the next few weeks, I simply haven’t had time to keep up with all the great stuff I am seeing! You should see how many items I’ve “starred” in Google Reader! It’s gonna take me a week just to go back through that!

So thank you all for the comments on this blog and on my photos! I’ll be returning the favor soon… as soon as I have the time to go through all the magnificent content I’ve saved!

Subscriptions

Speaking of all of you, my RSS/email subscription count has surpassed 300 subscribers! Of course, it’s not going to set any records, but it means a lot to me to see so many subscribers in a relatively short amount of time. Thank you all who have subscribed! You guys are making this whole photo-blogging so much more enjoyable! Thanks!

A New Project

As I’ve hinted before in the past, I am currently working on a project designed specifically for my fellow DC photographers. It could have been launched already but, considering it’s specific to DC, I didn’t want to launch it and then immediately leave the area for a month or two. So, stay tuned in July for some news on that project. I am really looking forward to getting it off the ground!

JPG Magazine

It’s been a looooong time since I’ve submitted a photo to JPG Magazine. This month’s theme, Democracy, was one I couldn’t pass up. So, if you have the time and inclination, go on over to JPG and vote for my submission by clicking on the photo below:

That’s about all for now! I will likely be posting one more update before I leave next week regarding some of the details for my upcoming trip.

Have a great weekend!

Tags: democracy, india, jpg-magazine, me, rss, Site News, travel

India photos complete!

I’ve finally managed to go through the almost 3000 photos I took while I was in India and select about 10% for processing and uploading. I’ve uploaded them all to Flickr and will be tagging them and adding titles and descriptions over the next few days.

Since I didn’t get a chance to blog or upload photos after we went to Agra to see the Taj Mahal, I’ll leave with a few of my favorites from that day. You can view all of my India photos here.

Tags: agra, india, taj-mahal, travel

A brief Delhi photowalk (and a protest)

We arrived in Delhi today a little after noon. We checked into our hotel, the New Delhi Shangri-La. This hotel is fantastic! What a nice way to spend our last day before heading back to the States.

I was fairly tired out and was looking forward to just lounging around and preparing for our journey to Agra tomorrow but I couldn’t resist walking around a bit near the hotel. As I was wandering around, I could hear someone speaking somewhat angrily through a megaphone nearby. I decided to follow the sound to Sansad Marg Road. Here, the Delhi police had blocked the road because of a protest. I maneuvered a little closer and began talking to one gentleman to find out what all the fuss was about.

The protest was being staged by a Pharmacists’ Union in an attempt to raise their wages. They feel that their pay is not keeping up with other degree-holding fields. The gentleman then asked me if I was with the international media and I told him that I was a freelance photographer and then asked him if it would be OK if I could wander into the crowd to take some photos. He appeared more than happy to help me. He gestured with his hand for me to lead the way to where I wanted to be. We approached the crowd, ducked under the line around the demonstration, and dove into the crowd. He helped part the way for me until we arrived at the center where a man was speaking angrily into a microphone. I spent a few minutes taking some shots and then began backing out so I could get some more crowd shots.

After the protest, I began walking back to the hotel… It was time to relax a bit before our long journey to see the Taj Mahal tomorrow.

A few photos from today below:

Tags: delhi, india, new, protest

Our last day in Bangalore

Thursday was our last full day in Bangalore. I finished up teaching a hacking class at work, took some photos around the office, and then we headed out a little early. We ended up going down to Commercial Street again just to wrap up some shopping before we left town. Below are a few of the photos from our last day in Bangalore…

Next up, a brief stop in Delhi and the Taj Mahal!

Tags: bangalore, india, travel

Welcome ProPhotoLife Readers!!

For those of you that are coming to my blog for the first time from ProPhotoLife, I’d like to welcome you and thank you for visiting! As you may already have read, I am currently in India on business for my day job and doing my best to capture some great images! This is an incredible experience! There are so many extremes and variations of the human condition in such close proximity to each other, it’s astounding! I am blogging when I can, though it has been somewhat limited due to slow bandwidth in our hotel and, of course, I am actually supposed to be “working”, but I am doing my best to upload some new images and information as often as possible. Tomorrow, we’re heading to Delhi for two days and then we will be returning to the United States. Again, as you may already know from the ProPhotoLife profile of me, within a week of returning to the States, I am taking off on another promising photo journey in the West Bank. So stay tuned for, what I hope will be, some great photos!

In the meantime, you can read my other India posts here:

Globalization Central - Day One

Photos From Bangalore - 22/05/08

Haunted by a shot I didn’t take

Faces of Bangalore

If you’re interested in following me on my journey towards a career in photojournalism, I invite you to subscribe to my blog! You can subscribe with your RSS reader by clicking here or you can subscribe via email by clicking here! I hope you enjoy your stay!

As for my current readers, I invite you to check out the profile of me over at ProPhotoLife. Jim over at ProPhotoLife has been busy profiling photographers who are at different stages in their careers. I was lucky enough to be profiled as one who is aspiring to turn professional. Thank you Jim! I am deeply honored!

If any of you haven’t checked out ProPhotoLife before, do it now! It is an invaluable resource for photography and the photography business.

Tags: me, photojournalism, profile, welcome

Faces of Bangalore

Last night after work I decided to just walk up and down the road near our hotel. There are an amazing number and variety of people all within walking distance. It’s still somewhat nervewracking to walk alone through the hustle and bustle of a place where everyone looks at you suspiciously but I figured I might as well just suck it up and keep smiling. And, overall, it went really well. I didn’t take as many photos as I would have liked but when I got a particularly inviting smile from someone, I would ask to take their photo. Most seemed hesitant but they ultimately would pose and let me take the shot. After the shot, I’d motion toward my camera for them to come and take a look at their photo. This is when the crowd forms. People young and old gather around to look at the photo and then some of them would want their photo taken as well. It was very reminiscent of the last time I was in the West Bank. Once you took one photo, you’d have to take 100.

I’m writing this on our last day in Bangalore. Tomorrow, we get up bright and early and take a flight to Delhi where we will be visiting Agra and the Taj Mahal before we leave to come back to the US.

I leave you, then, with a few street portraits from Bangalore:

Tags: bangalore, india, portrait, travel

Haunted by a shot I didn’t take

Many thanks for your patience with my limited blogging and photos while I’m in India. As I’ve mentioned before, our Internet connection at the hotel is painfully slow so uploading photos has been virtually impossible. Having said that, I wanted to give you some updates on what we’ve been doing and a few moments of introspection…

Yesterday, Saturday, we traveled to Mysore which is a couple hours outside Bangalore. It was a long drive but totally worth it. Mysore is pretty incredible. We went to the top of Chamundi Hill where we visited a temple and got a great view of the town below. After that, we ate lunch in a very lavish hotel/palace looking place. Being here almost made you feel like you took a trip back in time to British India. I decided to eat a little more conservatively since my stomach was slightly upset.

After lunch, we traveled to Mysore Palace. A very impressive building. Upon entering the palace grounds, I was told that I had to leave my camera in their “camera room” since photography was prohibited inside the palace itself. Haha… Yeah, that wasn’t going to happen. So, they told me that I could walk around the palace grounds but could not go inside. Not a problem. That gave me a chance to wander around for an hour or two while my coworkers went inside.

Despite the huge palace, I felt like I was actually the top tourist attraction. I was approached at least 10-15 times to pose for a photo with people. I’m guessing large white men with cameras are still somewhat of a novelty here.

It’s very… exciting to wander around a place with people that are so different. It’s a weird mix of nervousness and adrenaline. The looks you get from people are amazing. As a rough estimate, I’d say about 40% of people were looking at me very suspiciously almost as if they were ready to attack me for being there. Another 50% stared at me (and the camera) with sheer wonder and fascination like I was from another planet. Finally, the last 10% looked like they were extremely happy that I was there. And, of that, about 5% of the young ladies looked and smiled at me almost as if they were immediately infatuated with me and would follow me anywhere. It’s quite amazing.

After the palace, we simply went into town and walked around for a couple hours. The town reminded me very much of Nablus, albeit with many more people and traffic. After we stopped for some coffee, our driver picked us up for the long drive back to Bangalore.

This morning, I slept in a little bit and left the hotel around 11 with my manager to go get a bite to eat at a fancy hotel. After this, we met up with some of our Indian colleagues to do some shopping on Brigade Road and Commercial Street. I was feeling a little light-headed so I actually ended up going back to the hotel early to get some rest in preparation for some classes I have to teach this week.

Which brings me to something that’s bothering me…

I didn’t take too many photos today but there was one photo opportunity I ended up missing almost as soon as we arrived on Brigade Road. While we were standing in front of the KFC (our designated meeting spot), a young boy no older than 11 was sitting on the sidewalk with a young girl no more than 4 or 5 laying across his lap. She was either sleeping or completely unconscious. Both were dirty and barefoot from what must have been days of begging on the street. He looked at us more than a few times motioning with his hand to his mouth, asking for money or food or both.

For a few minutes, I alternated between being entranced to averting my eyes out of shame. I wanted the shot. I wanted to help. Unfortunately, I did neither. It’s very easy to get caught up and “go with the flow”. All of the locals and people on the street walk by this sight without so much as a glance. I hesitated long enough that, before I knew it, we were about a block or two away and I had, effectively, lost the chance.

Now, I can’t get that boy out of my head. I don’t know exactly what I should have done. Should I have simply given him some money and sat down on the street a few feet away and start shooting? Is that really helping? I know that photojournalists often justify shooting situations like by saying “they’re telling their story”. I generally believe that but it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense when presented with this kind of situation. Telling their story to who? Is that photo going to save this kid’s life? No. In fact, it wouldn’t make a damn bit of difference to his life. The only benefit I can see is that it would have simply been a powerful shot for my portfolio and I feel selfish because I can’t stop kicking myself for not taking it.

There’s a line in the musical Miss Saigon that says:

“Christ, I am American, how could I fail to do good…”

That sums up a lot of how I feel about situations like this. Sure, it might be somewhat naive to think that I can somehow save the world or even one person from what appears to be a predetermined fate. And, there’s a part of me that wishes I was little “harder” when it comes to these situations… Take the shot, give him a few rupees, and move on.

I don’t think that’s the right path, though. I don’t want to lose that naivete, that sense that what I do with my camera can and does make a difference. If I lose that, then what’s the point? Why not just shoot professional football games and fashion models? It would certainly pay more.

I don’t know what the answer is. I do know, however, that doing this kind of work is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Balancing my guilt, shame, and emotion with the need to take the shot is something that I imagine I’ll wrestle with for a long time… My success in doing so and my potential success as a photojournalist are inextricably entwined.

Having said all that, I leave you with a couple of my shots from yesterday:

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Tags: bangalore, india, mysore, photojournalism, travel

Photos from Bangalore - 22/05/08

I’m happy to report that I finally got around to taking some photos on Thursday afternoon and night. There isn’t much to report from Wednesday… It began raining almost as soon as we left the office. We were going to go out but, with all the traffic in the rain, we just ended up sitting in the car for a couple hours before we just decided to go back to the hotel.

On Thursday, though, we decided to take a half day so we could visit the Bennaghatta Biological Park… Here, we went on a safari, of sorts. We boarded a bus, sat all the way in the front next to the driver and drove through a controlled outdoor habitat for some wild animals. I must say, though, the most dangerous part of the trip was the ride itself. We were flying through these dirt roads until we’d come upon some tigers or lions and the bus would suddenly stop so everyone could take photos. It was a little tough for me since the bus was surrounded by a wire grate and I only had a little hole on the side through which I could stick the lens.

After the safari, we headed back into town where we were planning on eating dinner. Since we were early, we walked around Commercial Street for an hour or two. Commercial Street is exactly what it sounds like… Narrow streets, packed with people and shops. Very cool photo location.

Finally, after browsing through the shops and people-watching, we met up with some more colleagues at an Afghan restaurant called Samarkand. This place is phenomenal. I can’t even remember what exactly I ate but it was fantastic. I highly recommend this place if you’re ever in Bangalore. We will likely return next week since one of our coworkers has been dealing with an upset stomach the last two days and didn’t join us last night.

Anyway, I finally have some photos online now. This is just a glimpse into some of the photos I have and they really haven’t been edited too much. Also, I’m not sure when I’ll be able to upload photos next. Uploading from the hotel is out of the question. Too slow. And, next week, I will be fairly busy in the office. I will try to blog fairly regularly but the photos themselves may be few and far between until I get back. It’s a shame, too, because I think this weekend will be a great photo weekend.

At any rate, here are some of the photos…

Tags: bangalore, india, travel

Where’s Shawn? India, of course!

In a few hours I’ll be boarding the first of two flights that will take me to Bangalore, India. I will be in India for approximately two weeks, the last couple days of which, I will be in New Delhi. I am going for business but, of course, I am bringing all my camera gear with me. During the day, I’ll be in the office doing day-job stuff but in the off-hours and weekends, I’ll be prowling around taking photos.

I will definitely be blogging from India and I’ll try to blog and upload some photos everyday. If you’d like, you can also follow me on Twitter @sduffyphotos. Just as an FYI, though… I have turned off Twitter SMS notifications while I’m in India so I don’t have to pay for other people’s tweets on my phone. I will, however, be updating via SMS occasionally. So, if you tweet to me and I don’t respond, that’s why.

Take care, and I’ll see you all on the other side of the Pacific!

Tags: india, me, travel, twitter

Thinking Out Loud: Setting Goals

Recently, I’ve felt like my photography isn’t really going anywhere. Don’t get me wrong… I feel like I am improving, I still love creating great images and, with all the travel that I’ll be doing in the next month, I’m extremely excited about the photos I have yet to shoot. But, when it comes to turning this into a career, I feel like I’m not really going anywhere. So I started thinking about what I needed to do to go to the next level. Even if you’re not looking to turn your photography into a career, it’s easy to fall into a rut where you feel like you’re just drifting along and not moving forward.

I’ve decided that what I needed was a plan. A quantifiable set of goals and milestones for my photography over the next year. I’ve been thinking about this strategic plan, so to speak, for the last week or two. As I’ve quietly brainstormed the things I wanted to accomplish over the next year or so, I figured I’d share some of the ideas that I might put into my own plan in the hopes that it might help you with yours.

Income

This is really what’s it all about, right? I mean, sure, it’s about the photography, too, but, unless you’re independently wealthy, you’re going to have to sacrifice photo time for money-making time. The goal is to turn your photo time into money-making time. So let’s begin our goal-setting with a real, challenging, yet realistic, income goal. I’m not talking going from $0 one year to $50,000 the next (though if you manage to do this, let me know how you did it). I’m talking about going from selling no photos last year to, say, 5 this year. Or, if you’ve already sold a few photos, consider doubling that amount this year. Write it down. It’s not really a goal until it’s on paper. Hang it above your desk. Put it on a little piece of paper in your wallet or purse. Make sure it’s in your face as much as possible.

Start and complete a project or two

What if you’re not really in this for the money? Or, even if you are, what if you’re still looking for a way to push yourself and your photography to a new level? Obsessing over numbers and sales certainly isn’t going to do that for you, but starting a new photo project might!

Come up with a photo project idea or two and start working on it! This could be something relatively simple like photographing people on their cell phones or something fairly complex like photographing complete strangers with each holding one word of the Declaration of Independence. Imagine how much fun that would be!

Or, if you’re into photojournalism, like I am, the possibilities are endless. Just because you’re not on the payroll of the New York Times or just because it’s not practical for you to fly to Pakistan to cover elections, doesn’t mean you’re not a photojournalist. A photojournalist tells a story through their photos. Think of how many stories you could tell just within your own community! Go down to the local animal shelter and photograph and interview some of the people working there. Go to your local town hall and I’m sure you can find a million stories that could be told through photos. Or, for something even simpler, you could interview and photograph a relative… I don’t know about you, but my grandmother could go on for hours telling stories of her youth and she absolutely loves to be photographed. It doesn’t have to win a Pulitzer prize to be photojournalism and it just might give you the direction and experience you’re looking for.

Finally, if you just can’t think of any cool ideas for a project, head on over to PhotoChallenge.org and participate in their monthly and weekly challenges.

So, go, come up with some ideas for a couple projects and get to work!

Learn from those who are already doing it

This might be the single best thing you could do to improve your photography. Regardless of the kind of photography you want to do, there is certainly someone who is already doing it.

Let’s start with an example that anyone can do… Go to Google and search for “wedding photographers” in your area. Depending on where you live, I’m sure most of you will find more than just a few. What if you reached out to some of them and offered your services as an assistant, and whatever photos you take, for free! Of course, you might want to show them some of your work and they may want to interview you first since weddings are pretty important occasions, but you just might find a few who are willing to take you up on your offer. Sure, you won’t be making any money but think of what you’ll be getting in return… The experience of shooting an important event for a client, lighting tips, getting to see the “business” side of photography, you’ll get to build your portfolio, and so on. And, even if you don’t want to be a wedding photographer, chances are you might want to be open to shooting a wedding or two if, for no other reason, than to pay the bills while you’re waiting on your Reuters contract.

Of course, those photographers that require special access (such as professional sports photographers, the top political photojournalists, etc) might be harder to shadow, but, if you look and, at least, ask you never know what you might stumble upon.

So, think of what you want to learn, find some photographers who are already doing it, and offer to assist!

Conclusion

In conclusion, remember that actively working toward a challenging but realistic goal, in any area of your life, can be one of the most satisfying things you can do. You’ll be pushing your photography to a new level, you’ll be re-invigorating an already-fascinating hobby, and, you just might end up with a new career!

These are just some of the things I am looking at doing over the next year in an attempt to give my photography some direction.

Do you have any goals for your photography over the next year or two? Share them in the comments!

Tags: apprentice, career, goals, income, photojournalism, professional, projects