Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Looking at things in parts

feeling small

There was a time when I really thought that I could hold the world in my hand. A time wherein I thought I could fool everyone into believing that life is easy to navigate once you are equipped, you have a compass in one hand to provide direction and the brain and the guts to go on your way. I thought that every human being although unique in their own way, has always been kind. And that they reciprocate. I guess I was reading too much crap.

flower parts

You know how they say, “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”? It is logical. It’s how the universe works most of the times (if not all times). We comprehend things by its totality not by its parts. In my case, I like to see (appreciate) things in parts. That way, I don’t miss the little details that to others may seem trivial. Say, this flower for instance. I could have just taken a shot of the whole flower instead I zoomed in the petals which made me appreciate the role of the dews and how they accentuated the flower. But looking at things in parts has its downside too. One is bound for misunderstanding as one sees only the other side.

Danish girl

When we were in Kayangan Lake in Coron, Palawan a few weeks back, I was watching this Danish girl sitting in one of the rocks, playing with a school of flying fish. Her feet were floating on the water while the fishes prick her legs. It must be subtle because she never complained. Her mom was beside me on the bench, watching her too. A few minutes later, she cried and said that the fish bit her. She was speaking in Danish, I just got it from her actions. The little girl was pinpointing the sting on her leg, it's how I knew she was bitten. So what’s my point? My point is, never trust your instinct too much. Mine’s have always not been that reliable. Being stung is okay, but getting another one and not learning from it, is a huge sin.

girl with sad smile


I have been very vocal about my preference for taking photos of people, the human face in particular. It’s the best canvas in the world. The human face tells you deep emotion without having teh aid of words. Most of the time, the trick is in the eyes. We met Honey, the little girl in the photo, when we went in Coron. She is the grand daughter of our boatman. She and her aunt (almost her age) accompanied us during the trip to the islands. Her face interested me the moment I saw her. She rarely smiles, could it be because we were strangers to her and our group was really noisy that she rarely gave me a look. Her eyes speaks a lot, though. I had at least a whole series of her shots most them looking away, and there were a very few times that I caught her smile. And her smile was not even meant for me. One big, genuine smile is (so) rare to find these days.

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8 comments:

Anonymous said...

hi. rayts, what's your email add again? PM mo naman sa peyups. thanks!
sel

escape said...

very true. some people look at the totality while others on parts. as for me, i usually look at both perspective depending on the situation. when we make judgment or criticism, it would best be described in parts.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like you got bit!

Interesting thoughts and photo's.

Anonymous said...

I like the thing going here with your photo essays. Very creative pair of writing with your images. moving!

Anonymous said...

An expression on the face speaks a thousand words. You're right, it's a canvas that shows a lot of emotions.

(:

pieterbie said...

I find it funny that you say you are not a people person. You have always given me a different impression. I thought you were very much in to people. Honey has a very pretty face indeed. She has a cute upper lip, a shapely nose and her eyes have the perfect almond shape. When I started with digital photography back in 2003, I was not in to people. If you were to look back at my blog to the earliest posts, you’ll find a lot of pictures of architecture and nature, but no people. Thanks to my sports photography I have evolved in that direction. Today I love the challenge of photographing a face in just the way I want. And I don’t mind experimenting, like I did with the photos of Sigrid I posted earlier this week.

my gulch said...

dong:
you're right.

Mike:
yea and i still got the stung up to now. it makes one so paranoid these days.

ferdz:
thank you, glad you appreciated it.

kyels:
i found some people who can totally control what their faces show. it sounds tight but i wonder how they do it. i wanted to learn the art of blase.

peter:
i love taking photos of people. if there is one genre or style in photography that i really want to dig into, it's PEOPLE, particulary getting different expressions of faces.

what i meant when i said "I am not a people person" is that i am not that good with interaction. by nature, i am not really good at socializing with people and i think it somehow reflects in the images that i produce. most of them are candid simply because i hate to explain why i am taking their photos. i usually don't ask permission because i am not getting the effect i wanted. i wanted to capture people in their candid smile, frown, etc. am i making sense to you?

when I was in China, i took a shot of a man on the street and he was mad at me for taking his photo without asking for permission that I got so scared and I ran away. i don't even understand a single word of what he was saying, but i figured i got him mad. sometimes, when you are on the street, you take photos out of instinct and you just never think of the repercussions.

Toe said...

OMG! I've been to Cayangan Lake! Sobrang ganda... parang enchanted talaga. :) I love Honey's photo!

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