En Route to Praha

Dome and Umbrella

On the bus again; we just crossed the Austria-Czech border. They checked our passports, and took three of ours in for further evaluation (an Indian, Kenyan, and Chinese passport). Former Soviet Union, here we come.

Vienna was a very cool city, the most modern yet. Although it was probably no bigger than Paris, it felt more expansive, with larger, newer buildings and wide streets. I got my share of sausage, wienerschnizel, and Austrian beer. I liked that city.

Photographically, I don't think I have any real keepers (though I haven't spent much time evaluating). I felt very frustrated the whole time. I was here in this cool city but couldn't really "capture" it, whatever that means. Part of the problem was that we didn't actually stay in the city (we were in a similar situation in Venice). Although the food at the hotel was great (it was connected to the Vienna airport), it was a 30 min/1.70 euro train ride just to get into the city, and another U-Bahn ride to get anywhere once inside. With lectures everyday at 8:00 in the morning, there was no way to go out shooting in the morning before dawn and make it back in time. That's by far the best time to shoot: amazing light and no tourists. After an 8:00 lecture and a 10:00 museum, that put my first batch of free time right at noon, the absolute worst time of day to take pictures. So I didn't. In the evenings the light was better, but the whole place is still tourist-laden, and it's much harder to separate from the group. I took pictures, but they are mostly uninteresting.

So that's one excuse, outside my control, for the bad pictures. The second reason is completely within my control. I feel like I have no driving force for photography, as if I'm just shooting what "looks cool" as opposed to having a definite purpose or statement. I've said in previous posts that I want to take more portraits, and that still stands, but I want something else, something that can show "Vienna" (or "Prague" or "Berlin") interestingly--something pleasant to look at, something worth exploring visually. Anyone can (and I certainly do) take pictures of a random city street in Vienna, but what makes that Cartier-Bresson image of a Parisian street special, more visually interesting? In trying to figure it out, I realized where I've lost focus--the very basics, the whole point and title of this blog: Point and Frame. That is to say, graphics: point, line, shape, form, pattern, texture, color. Forget color and shoot in black and white, and I'm left with six graphic elements to exploit in every photograph. No more random shots. I've been using the camera every day, and am now much more comfortable getting an accurate exposure with little effort. I understand my dynamic range capabilities much more, and as a result am worrying less and less about getting the photograph technically "right." This leaves room for me to explore the photograph more creatively, exploring those graphic elements. I should exploit this new freedom as much as possible. There are graphic elements everywhere, and it is left to me to edit out that which does not contribute. If I can let that be my focus within these foreign cities hopefully my photographs will both document the space and be interesting to look at. That's all I really want, now that I think about it. Interesting documentation.

This picture was taken just inside the doorway of some theater as we tried to escape the rain on our way to an orchestra performance of Mozart, Brahms, and Ravel (which was excellent, by the way). Umbrellas have always fascinated me, these little domes people carry around with them for shelter; a street full of people in the rain looks like a pile of marbles or something. I've always wanted to photograph them, but they present an extra challenge because digital cameras and rain don't get along too well. Although I think the composition here is quite distracting, not very balanced, and in general could be much better, I do like the repetition in the dome of the church and the dome of the lady. That may be something to look into for future projects.

Onward to Prague, where I'll be able to pronounce nothing and I'll have no idea what anything costs (I think it's 20 crowns to the dollar?). My focus should be point, line, shape, form, pattern, texture, color. And portraits.