photographing to explore - uci study abroad center the primary goal of photographing to explore is...

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1 a handbook for travelers Photographing to Explore Doug Reilly Sharon Walsh Center for Global Education Hobart and William Smith Colleges

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1

a

handbook

for

travelers

Photographing toExplore

Doug ReillySharon Walsh

Center for Global EducationHobart and William Smith Colleges

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Table of Contents

About This Guide...2Part One: Why Photograph?...4

Part Two: Recipe for a Photograph...9Part Three: How Cameras Make

Photographs...21Part Four: Issues of Representation...27Part Five: Exercises for Exploration...33

Part Six: Genre Tips...35Part Seven: What to Do With Your

Photographs...39

About This Guide

The camera is as ubiquitous a human tool as the automobile,and yet few of us receive any formal training on how to operatecameras and make images. Photography is a skill that has to belearned and thoughtfully practiced. Many students purchasecameras (if they don’t already have one) as they prepare fortheir study abroad experience. Most of them have no formal orinformal training in the art, and not all students return pleasedwith the images they have created.

Doug Reilly, one of the authors of this guide, is a case in point:“I studied abroad Seville, Spain. I had an old SLR camera thatmy Dad took home from his office. I had even taken two pho-tography courses in high school. In Spain, I took pictures ofthings that impressed me at the moment, but not what Ithought I’d want to see and remember in the future. I ended upwith about 500 boring photos of churches whose names I can’tremember. There were very few that showed Spanish people orthe things that made up my daily life there, and not a singlephotograph of the one person that made the entire experienceunforgettable: Margarita, my Spanish host mother.”

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The primary goal of Photographing toExplore is for students to take photo-graphs abroad that are, and will remain,meaningful to them and to their viewers.

More meaningful photographs are betterphotographs. While photographycontains an element of luck (right placeat the right time), there are some basicideas and skills that can help youimprove—sometimes dramatically. Take alook at these anonymous photographsfound by Googling the phrase “in front ofthe Eiffel Tower.”

The first three examples all look alike, andthe only thing they communicate is thatyes, these folks were really (and precisely)in front of the Eiffel Tower.

The last one, however, tells a uniquestory. The viewer doesn’t need to see thetop of the tower to know what it is. Andthe couple is a little off to the side: westill believe they were there.

What this guide is not is a camera manual.Photographic technology has beentransformed by digital cameras in thelast few years, and the brands, modelsand variations of cameras are nowseemingly infinite. All of these cameraswork on the same principles and allshare some features. Each camera,however, often has its own uniqueinterface and quirks. This guide will helpyou with your camera and your photog-raphy, but it will not replace yourcamera’s manual.

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Part One: Why Photograph?

In general, humans make photographs to:

preserve memories (in case memory fails)communicate experiences (tell stories)make something beautiful (art)learn how to see better (observation)understand the relationship between things (reflection)interact with the environment (exploration)

Most students would likely choose the first or second reason ifasked why they wanted to make photographs while abroad. Afew would be in it for the creative art of it. Few would talkabout travel photography in terms of the last three examplesabove. But there’s good reason to think about travel photogra-phy in exactly those terms. Below are three quotes which get tothe heart of photography:

All photographs are there to remind us of what weforget. In this—as in other ways—they are the oppositeof paintings. Paintings record what the painter remem-bers. Because each one of us forgets different things, aphoto more than a painting may change its meaningaccording to who is looking at it.

-John Berger

Photography records the gamut of feelings written on thehuman face, the beauty of the earth and skies that manhas inherited, and the wealth and confusion man hascreated. It is a major force in explaining man to man.

-Edward Steichen

If you take a picture of a human that does not make himnoble, there is no reason to take this picture. That is myway of seeing things.

-Sebastiao Salgado

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Observation

Good photography forces you to really look at the world aroundyou: to be aware of color and light, the way the sun interactswith the red sandstone of a building or how a sea of umbrellaslooks in the rain. It challenges you to be observant of peopleand the things that make up their daily lives: their newspapersand cups of coffee and markets and street corners and librariesand kitchens. Becoming a better photographer necessitateslearning how to see the world around you in a more intense,purposeful way than you’ve ever looked at it before. As atraveler, it involves tuning your eyes to see culture.

A good photograph can also help you understand the worldaround you, and can help you better communicate that under-standing to others. The subject of Otto Foerster’s image belowis a line of notes written to God by Muslims in India. The close-up reflects the intimacy of the messages and the personalnature of the God of Islam. The image Otto constructed chal-lenges us to see religion not in abstract terms, but in personalones.

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Reflection

This image, by Casey Cronin, of Ha Long Bay, Vietnam, commu-nicates some interesting truths about student experienceabroad: the person frozen in time in a landscape of sublimebeauty, how often students must be hit with the feeling of aperfect instant that may never come again, the way the mag-nificence of nature can stop us in our tracks. Casey’s photodoesn’t say this implicitly, but what it does is capture a momentthat can cause us, the viewers, and perhaps Casey, the photog-rapher, to reflect on wider themes.

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Exploration

Photography is a tool for exploring the world around you, andit’s often the experience of making photographs that allowsknowledge to be created. Photography is a creative process thatwill force you to interact with your immediate environment.Here is William Allan Allard on his creative process.

If a subject has a delicate surface to it, you do not wantto go charging in there. You need to establish some kindof presence and understanding. I will say, “Try to forgetI’m here. I won’t ask you to pose, I won’t ask you to doanything.” It’s important that I just be allowed to bearound, to be present. Photographing people requires awillingness to be rejected. So, I think the best approachis to be honest and direct. Very often, I tell them, “Youdon’t know me. There’s no reason why you should trustme...the only thing I can promise is that I’ll try to do themost honest work I can.” Ultimately, it comes down tosomehow being able to instill confidence. I don’t thinkyou can bullshit your way into that, because a lot ofthese people can see through walls. If you want tophotograph people, you’d better know something aboutthem. I like to explore, to be sensitive to the rhythms ofthe moment. Exploration means seeking out what I thinkis there, and yet often finding something finer, some-thing closer to the center, that no amount of researchcould have led me to. I tend to react more than direct.You have to be receptive. You have to care. You can’t dogood work if you don’t care. That’s not necessarily astrength, but it gives you strength.

-William Albert Allard

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Leidy Sanchez’s subject—a young accordion player in Flo-rence—knew he was being photographed. The expression ofresignation, and the evidence of a hard life, is all over his face,and all over the pock-marked wall behind him. Did they have aconversation before she took this photograph? Did they talkafterwards? Did she put any money into his cup? What doesthat exchange say about power relationships? Did this en-counter change the way Leidy looked at street perfomers orthe Gypsies? These touch upon key questions for the photog-rapher, some of which we’ll return to in Part Four. The photo-graph forced the photographer to interact with her environ-ment, to work with it in creating an image. She made it incooperation with others: the boy, the artists who drew on thewalls and garbage cans, the decision-makers who created theeconomic system whereby a certain portion of every popula-tion has to be unemployed.

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Part Two: Recipe for a Photograph

You don’t take a photograph, you make it.-Ansel Adams

Pictures are not sitting there like fossils or bugs waiting to beplucked and put into a collection. They are not found, or eventaken: they are constructed out of space, time, and light.

Space. You look at the camera screen or through the viewfinder:what do you include, and what do you exclude? Where do youplace the elements in the photograph? How are these elementsrelated? Photographers compose images by choosing what toshow, what not to show, and how the various elements of animage should relate visually.

Time. The photographer chooses the decisive moment to push theshutter button, when the light is perfect or the expression ispriceless or some other combination of factors comes together.

Light. If there’s no light being reflected by objects in front of thecamera, there’s no photograph. The light falls onto the objectsfrom the source (sun or artificial light) and is reflected back(creating perceptions of color and texture), is gathered andfocused by a lens onto film or chip, and is finally recorded. Lightcan be bright, causing harsh shadows, rendering subjects insharp relief. Or it can be diffuse or muted, rendering the worldin soft tones instead of hard edges. Becoming a connoisseur oflight conditions and quality is the work of a photographer aswell as a painter.

Composition 1: The Rule ofThirds

If you only know one rule of composi-tion, this is it. Few concepts canimprove a person’s photographs

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more than the rule of thirds. Best of all, it’s simple. Imaginarylines are drawn dividing the image into thirds both horizontallyand vertically. You place important elements of your composi-tion where these lines intersect.

The photograph below, by Oliver Majer, makes good use of theRule of Thirds. Notice how the line of men is positioned alongthe right 1/3 line and that closest man’s feet and head areroughly at the intersections. Also note that he is not directlycentered on that line. Neither is he directly in the center of theframe. Keeping important elements from dead center is whatit’s about.

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Composition 2: Faraway so close

If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not closeenough.

-Robert Capa

Try getting closer to your subject. Often new photographers trytoo hard to get everything into a photograph. Put in the frameonly what is important. If that’s a person’s face, then get asclose as you can. If it’s a person’s face reacting to something hisgrandfather is saying, then make sure to include the person andhis grandfather. Similarly, exclude from your image anythingyou think detracts from the theme, or that will draw theviewer’s attention away from what is really important in yourimage.

Another of Otto’s images from India illustrates this point well.In this case, Otto zoomed in—or walked closer—to capture thefeet of these worshippers before entering a temple. By doing so,Otto juxtaposes youth and old age, as the full scene might nothave done.

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Composition 2(a): Stepping Back

On the other hand, don’t be afraid to zoom out or step back(look behind you!) in order to get more into the frame. But payattention to what you’re letting into that frame. Wide-anglephotographs often look best when the different elements in theframe are interacting or have an obvious relationship.In this image of a musical performance during Ramadan festivi-ties in Istanbul, the photographer chose to include as much aspossible. The audience’s attention was locked onto the folksinger and the photographer (Doug Reilly) wanted to depict thedynamic between the performer and the audience. Ataturk, theleader who helped create modern Turkey, also became acharacter in the composition, watching over the singer, audi-ence and photographer. For Doug, the moment was aboutshared bonds of identity.

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Composition 3: Changing Perspective

Few things can make a photograph better, and a photographermore capable, than learning to see from different perspectives.Seeing differently, and seeing difference, are both also goals ofthe study abroad program you will embark upon. Try making apicture from a crouched-down-low position. Try to get aboveyour subject. Turn the camera a little bit to skew the perspec-tive. The most important thing is to experiment with differentangles. Patrick Allen’s image of Cao Dai worshippers in Vietnam(above) is an excellent example of skillful use of perspective.

Anna Lockwood’s image of a street in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil(overleaf) makes use of a worm’s eye view. Anna actually restedher camera on the cobblestone road to get this shot, whichaccentuates the rolling hills the city is built upon, as well asjuxtaposes the textures of the rough road against the smootherbuilding facades and the pedestrians’ clothes.

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Light

Light is the photographer’s currency. Learn to study it. All lightis not created equal! Bright sun is not necessarily the best lightin which to photograph. Generally, people look better in shadeor under overcast skies. The evening or morning sun oftenproduces long, softer and more dramatic shadows give every-thing a romantic, coppery tone.

Magdalena Piascik’s image from Denmark illustrates this lastpoint: the long shadows serve to draw attention to the bikerscrossing the street and adds interest to the image.

The short time before and after sunset and sunrise (sometimescalled twilight or half-light) often produces the deepest colorson film or digital sensor, with colorful objects appearing to glowfrom within.

Look through this handbook and you’ll see plenty of excellentexamples of different kinds of light and their uses. Each loca-

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Texture

Texture refers to how different surfaces and materials reflectlight. Many photographers don’t pay attention to texture.Texture is something that black and white images tend tocapture really well. Photographing for texture is a totallydifferent way to make images, and it’s worth trying, especially ifyou’re thinking about doing some close-ups. Sharon Walsh’simage of cutlery on a bed of beans (from a British antique shop’sdisplay window) illustrates a great use of texture. The smoothsurface of the steel is contrasted against the rough surfaceformed by the beans.

tion has its own unique light signature and it might take time toget to know what light is where and when, and what it workswell for. Travellers often bemoan cloudy days, but for manykinds of photography, the soft light that filters down fromclouds works better than the harsh shadows and highlights ofdirect sunlight. Portraits and other photographs of people workwell in such conditions.

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Jeff Roffman’s image of a lotus flower from China also makesgreat use of texture, from the smooth satin of the petals to theshiny reflections of the dew drops. (Roffman also got closer.)

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The Decisive Moment

The words and images below are by Henri Cartier-Bresson(1908-2004), one of the giants of 20th century photojournalism.Cartier-Bresson’s philosophy downplayed the technical aspectsof making images, and instead focused on the photographer’sdecision of when to capture the image with the camera:

“To me, photography is the simultaneous recognition, ina fraction of a second, of the significance of an event aswell as of a precise organization of forms that give thatevent its proper expression.”

“There is a creative fraction of a second when you aretaking a picture. Your eye must see a composition or anexpression that life itself offers you, and you must knowwith intuition when to click the camera. That is themoment the photographer is creative: Oop! The Mo-ment! Once you miss it, it is gone forever.”

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Part Three: How Cameras Make Pictures

The camera is a complex tool based on a simple concept: lightfrom a scene is focused onto a light-sensitive medium (film or adigital chip). The camera controls how much light gets throughthe lens to the medium, and for how long it strikes the medium.The final result is an image. In the case of film, the focused lightchemically reacts with the emulsion on the film, which is latermade visible and stable by the development process. With thechip, the focused light activates tiny sensors on the chips,which turn that information into a digital file. When that digitalfile is accessed by the proper program, we see a digital imagewhich can be manipulated, stored and printed.

The variables in the photograph-making process are calledexposure.

Exposure = Aperture + Shutter Speed + ISO/Film Speed

Aperture is the camera’s way of controlling how much light hitsthe medium. Usually aperture is controlled by a set of 5 or moreblades which form an iris (below, left) that the camera can open

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or close. It functions just like the iris in your eye (previouspage). The aperture should be larger in dimmer scenes andsmaller in brighter scenes. Sometimes the aperture is con-trolled by you, sometimes by the camera.

Aperture sizes are referred to by “f/numbers”, and a typicalrange might be 2, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16 and 22. The difference be-tween each of these numbers is called a stop. Each lowernumber allows in twice as much as light as the next highernumber. In other words, F/2 lets in twice as much light as f/4,and so on. To turn this around, f/22 lets in half as much light asf/16. The aperture control is often on the camera lens, or isaccessible by menu and a control knob or up/down buttons on adigital camera.

The shutter, like the aperture, is also a kind of door. But thisdoor only has two positions, opened or closed. The variablehere is shutter speed, or how long the door is open. Darkerscenes might require the shutter to be open longer (referred toas lower speeds, for example, 1/8 second.). Brighter scenesrequire higher speeds, or shorter exposure times (for example,1/500 second). Note: 1/30 second or longer often blurs thephotograph because of camera shake.

Typical shutter speeds are expressed asfractions of a second and include: 1/4,1/8, 1/16, 1/30, 1/60, 1/125, 1/250 and1/500, and 1/1000. These are oftenshortened to 4, 8, 16, 30, 60, 125 and500, and 1000. The difference betweeneach of these is called a stop. 1/500 istwice as fast as 1/250, and so on.

Shutter speed is typically changed by a wheel (see above) onfilm cameras, and up/down buttons on digicams.

The ISO/Film Speed is how sensitive the medium (film or chip) is,or, in other words, how long the medium takes to record an

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image. Film comes in speeds like 100, 200, 400, 800, and 1600.The difference between each speed is also called a stop. 400speed film is twice as fast as 200, etc. Most digital camerasemulate film speed with an ISO setting.

So, for the scene above, the correct exposure might be (time,aperture and ISO):

1/60 f/8 ISO100

The same exposure is also given by this variation:

1/30 f/11 ISO100

Notice that the shutter speed went down by one stop (one stopslower or twice as long a shutter speed), the aperture went upby one stop (half as much light), and the ISO remained thesame. One more example of the same exposure:

1/60 f/11 ISO200

If this is compared to the preceding example, the half less lightlet in by the higher f/number (or, smaller aperture) is made upfor by the fact that the film speed/ISO is twice as high.

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To achieve the same exposure, a change in one parameter mustbe combined with an opposite but equal change in anotherparameter.

Why do you need to know all this?

Most modern cameras measure the light in a scene and set theaperture and shutter speed automatically given the film speedbeing used or the ISO set on the digital camera. Often thephotographer never has to think about these variables. How-ever, knowing about them, and how to manipulate them, canalso allow the photographer considerable control over how thefinal image appears. How you set aperture and shutter speed—and how sensitive your film or digital sensor is—has an impacton your final image.

Aperture controls depth of field

Depth of field is a term that describes how much of the photo-graphic image is in focus. If only a thin slice is in focus, we callthat “shallow depth of field.” If it’s all (or almost all) in focus,we call that “wide depth of field.” The basic rule here is thatvery wide apertures (f/2 for example) will produce very shallowdepths of field. In Doug Reilly’s portrait of Claire Morgan,above, a shallow depth of field is used to focus on Claire, and to

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give the image a greater sense of depth. When using low f/numbers, it’s critical that you focus your camera on what youwant to actually appear in focus on the final image.

There are many times when you want as much in focus aspossible. Using a higher f/number, like f/8, would allow agreater depth of field. At f/16 and f/22, almost everything willbe in focus.

Shutter speed can stop or blur movement

If you use a high shutter speed, you can freeze action, as inCasey Cronin’s Ha Long Bay photograph above. (Notice also thedepth of field is quite long: everything is in focus, from theclouds miles away to the women in the foreground.) Lower(longer) shutter speeds will mean that anything moving will beblurred, as in Paul Fathallah’s image of an electric tram inPrague (overleaf).

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ISO/Film Speed Effects

Film Speed/ISO is changed to provide flexibility to the photog-rapher in different lighting situations. If a photographer isgoing out to a café and knows it’ll be dark, he or she can choosea higher-speed film. With digital cameras, ISO becomes some-thing that can be changed with each image, just like apertureand shutter speed, though often the menu commands are alittle clumsy to do this often on most digicams. Digital SLRsusually have more straightforward controls in this regard.

ISO/Film Speed also controls how much film grain or digitalnoise is in an image. High speed films tend to be grainier. HighISO images on digital cameras, especially point and shootmodels with small chips, tend to be very noisy (or grainy-looking) and often look better when converted to grayscaleimages than in color.

If you’re shooting film, a good all-around speed is 400. Use 100if you plan on shooting a lot in daylight, use 800 or 1600 ifyou’re going to be shooting in very dim locations. With yourdigicam or DSLR, experiment with the ISO settings: eachcamera acts differently in this regard.

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Part Four: Issues of Representation

The camera cannot lie, but it can be an accessory tountruth.

-Harold Evans

Armed with the tools presented in Recipe for a Photograph, youset out to make images while you are abroad. But everythingwe’ve talked about thus far is about technique. Photography isalso art. And moreover, it’s art practiced in the social sphere,and its practice has social ramifications. In the beginning of thishandbook we stated as our goal that everyone abroad should bebringing back to campus photographs that have meaning. It islikely that most photographers believe they are recording theobjective truth. But is this accurate? Or does the camera recordthe perception of truth in a way so realistic that most peoplemistake the crafted image for reality?

With each image, the photographer presents a version ofreality. That reality may or may not be the same as the actualobjective scene before the photographer’s eye. Here’s anexample.

This photograph tells a certain story.

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This photograph is of the same scene, but as you can see, it tellsa dramatically different story. Now there’s a little girl watchingthe person play the piano.

As the photographer, you are creating the reality your audiencewill see. So the question for the photographer becomes: whatdo I want to show people?

All photographs are accurate. None of them is thetruth.

-Richard Avedon

You’ll note that several times above we use the word “story” torefer to the message of a photograph. Photographers are story-tellers. And, as you know, storytellers don’t always tell thetruth! They embellish, they change, they gloss over. Theyobscure some details so that the audience can focus on otheraspects of the story. They leave things out if it gets too compli-cated. Photographers do the same thing.

Photography deals exquisitely with appearances, butnothing is what it appears to be.

-Duane Michals

The images on the next page were all taken by study abroadstudents. The locations are typical destinations: India, Den-mark, Australia. Can you guess where each photograph wastaken?

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The above images are all very good photographs technically.And insofar as they are a portrait, an architectural study and awildlife photograph, they are also artistically well done. Butthey are not just that: they are also representations of thereality of a country by the students studying and photograph-ing abroad. And that makes them interesting. Over the past fiveyears we’ve noticed that students tend to bring back imagestypical of each location—images like the ones above.

Broadly speaking, students traveling to Asia often bring backimages of the exotic: brown-skinned people in colorful tradi-tional clothes, teeming city streets with all manner of transpor-tation, ancient temples and mosques.

For students in Europe, the focus is on architecture: churchesand castles, but also cobblestone streets, and occasionally apreserved agrarian countryside. People are often not present.

Students returning from Australia overwhelmingly bring backphotographs of nature: the bush, Ayers Rock, kangaroos andother exotic wildlife, like the above image of a shark, takenwhile diving on the Great Barrier Reef. People and architecture(except of the Sydney Opera House) are usually not present.

Students studying in Africa bring back images similar to theIndian taxi portrait (exotic people) or the shark photograph(exotic nature). Architecture, modern technology and modernpeople in western dress are often not present.

Why is this? Does Denmark have nature? Does Australia havepeople at all? Does Asia have people wearing modern, westernclothes and talking on cellphones? Yes, but we rarely receiveimages of them from students studying in these locations.

The images above are examples of travel photography cliché.

This kind of cliché exists for two reasons. The clichéd imagesare often the most obvious examples of difference that travel-

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ers see immediately. The tourist industry trades in clichés (onesthat are condescending if not outright chauvanist) to sell theidea of places to potential tourists.

Think of any ad you’ve ever seen about a cruise. You get thesame main idea: a floatingparty that occasionally dropsanchor on a “pristine” islandbeach where the only “locals”are there to serve you food orplay music. African safaris aresold with a similar racism: avast landscape populated byexotic animals and relativelyfew (black) people who onlydrive the land rovers or sing inpolyphony at the home camp.There are many other lessinsidious but no less clichedexamples: a couple kissing on a

gondola in Venice; a Bavarian in lederhosen hoisting an unreal-istically large mug of beer with an idiotic grin; a Japanese monkin a “pristine” environment with mist and rocks that somehowsuggests ancient wisdom.

Consider what such images erase or omit. Among other things,all of these clichés obscure the real places with real peopleliving real lives full of real problems as well as real joy.

To get beyond travel cliché, play with the conventional imagesand open your eyes to what is obscured. Do regular Venetiansuse gondolas day-to-day? Get out of the amusement park of OldTown Prague and see where most city residents live and spendtheir days. Try to get to know Japanese people: where do theywork, what do they do for fun, how do they live? Do their homeshave tatami mats or tables and chairs? Try to find out where theAfrican park ranger lives, where his children go to school, whathis economic, social and political reality is. Concentrate on the

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day-to-day lives of the local people: this is the differencebetween studying abroad and taking a package tour.

Thinking critically about representation shouldn’t dissuadestudent photographers from making the images that strikethem. But it should lead student photographers to ask somequestions about their own perceptions: am I only seeing onepart of the reality? Is there something worthwhile in a widerview?

Student photographers also have a responsibility to theiraudience back home. For some of their family and friends theimages they make may be the only representation of the coun-try they ever see. What do you want to show them? Do youwant people to believe that India has no cellphones, computers,modern cars or internet? Do you want to present Europe as allcobbled lanes and rolling hills? Is there nothing of interestbeyond nature in Australia, and don’t native Australiansinteract with their environment in interesting ways?

Your photographs, taken collectively, will be a statement:

This is (enter location here).

Think about the power you have to (mis)represent that place,and the responsibility you have to present a balanced perspec-tive.

Stare. It is the way to educate your eye, and more. Stare,pry, listen, eavesdrop. Die knowing something. You arenot here long.

-Walker Evans

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Part Five: Exercises for Exploration

people watcherSet yourself up in a café, restaurant or other public place andphotograph the people who pass by. You could do this dis-creetly and on the sly, but why not just be open about it? Askthe people you see if they would let you take thir photo, eitherposed or as they go about their business. Some may say no, butmany will say yes.

prisoner of the plazaConfine yourself to a public space (plaza, café, market, etc) forone hour and just make photographs. Start by photographingthe space itself and the boundaries you have set. Then justconcentrate on being aware of what’s happening around you—and documenting it.

color focusChoose a color and photograph examples of it during an entireday. The idea is to become aware of something you may haveoverlooked before, and build a series of images that are linkedand yet present an interesting slice of a more diverse reality.

daily lifeDocument your daily routine, almost as if you were illustratingit for friends and family at home. Remember that they don’tknow the place where you are living, so be sure to photographin some detail things that wouldn’t be obvious or clear.

brand loyaltyChoose your favorite local product (the one you think you’llmiss the most) and photograph it in as many different ways asyou can think of.

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recipeAsk your host-mother, a waiter at a restaurant, or a person atthe marketplace how they prepare a certain dish or type offood, and ask if you can photograph the process. It helps if it’s afood you really like!

small pleasuresFind out what local people do for diversion, and take part. Then,photograph the activity. What does the choice of activity sayabout the people?

self-portraitsSelf-portraits are hard photographs to take. Your goal is tocapture something of the essence and character of the subject—in this case, yourself. Think about these things: What doeschange mean for you? How have you changed over the courseof your term abroad? This is a great topic to reflect upon andwrite about, not only as your experience comes to a close, butalso along the way. How do you feel different? What new valueshave you developed? What old values are you now starting toreject? Try to make a series of images that help define thesechanges.

Adam Kohnstam

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Part Six: Genre Tips

Obviously, genres are not completely discrete categories. Aphotograph could be both a still life and a portrait, and allphotographs could in some way be considered “documentary.”Take a look back at the images in this manual as you read thedescriptions below. How would you categorize each image?

PortraitA strong portrait is more than a likeness-it captures the person-ality, attitude, or quirks of character that convey somethingmeaningful about a person. Often portraits consist of a simplehead shot, but more inclusive shots might be appropriate if thesurroundings provide colorful detail about the person. If youare taking a photo of a Flamenco dancer in Spain, for instance,you may want to take a full-length shot, as the dancer’s cos-tume will be an important part of the overall effect. A portraitof a market vendor in Vietnam might be enhanced and tellmore of a story by including the goods she is selling. With headshots, you will need to work harder to convey the person’scharacter, perhaps by using light and shadow to show textureor convey mood, or by capturing a particularly characteristicexpression that reveals something about the subject’s personal-ity.

Still lifeA still life is a thoughtful study of objects that brings out theirshape, color, texture, arrangement or some other quality thatcaptures your eye. It may show a relationship between theobjects depicted and usually has some particularly strikingvisual interest. Most people have seen the use of still life inpainting: the bowl of fruit, the wine bottle, etc. Still life inphotography might include an unusual arrangement of stoneson a beach, a display of cherries in an outdoor market, or acroissant and cup of espresso on a café table. You will need to

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carefully consider lighting when shooting a still life. Afternoonsunlight might be used to achieve saturated colors, while takinga photo in morning or evening light will give a mellower, moremuted effect.

Landscape A good landscape photograph captures mood and a sense ofplace. It might be a shot of an approaching storm, dramaticcoastal cliffs or an open stretch of road. Think carefully aboutcomposition and try experimenting with the ratio of sky to landto create different results. Light is also an important factor –midday light is the harshest, while sunrise and sunset produce avery warm light that tends to result in better landscape shots.Using a wide-angle lens can create a sense of depth in yourphoto; having a focal point in the foreground intensifies thiseffect and tends to “lead the eye” through the various layers ofthe landscape creating an image with greater impact. Youmight also want to consider a broader definition of landscapeby considering, for instance, the “landscape” of the city, whichmight include a full frame view of skyscrapers or a shot of anurban neighborhood scene.

Alana Santaro

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ArchitectureTo capture the architectural flavor of the places you visit, youmay decide to take photos of grand public buildings, modestlocal dwellings, quirky museums or your favorite local cafés orrestaurants. You may want to focus on specific architecturaldetails like doorways, windows or roof lines. A wide angle lenscan be useful when photographing architecture in order to getthe entire building in the shot without being too far away andthus decreasing the odds of having unwanted objects or peoplein the frame. Be aware, however, that too wide an angle cancause distortion in the final image. Another option is to use alonger telephoto lens and take the picture from further away,which often gives a more natural perspective. The telephotolens also allows you to capture specific details like close-ups ofthe sculpture on the Acropolis or the detailed scrollwork on atemple balcony in China. When taking architectural photos, youalso need to consider depth of field, or how much of the photoyou want to be in focus. Normally with architectural shots youwant the entire building or detail to be in focus. Remember thatthe larger your f/stop number, the more of the photo will be infocus.

DocumentaryDocumentary, or photojournalistic, photography normallyrecords a human interest scene that comments on or tells astory about a social issue or a breaking news event. Documen-tary photography requires a keen eye and the ability to see andconvey a story in a single image or series of images. This mightinclude a photo of a political rally in South Africa, images ofhomeless teens in Brazil or a shot of an armed soldier patrollingthe streets in Northern Ireland. If you are trying to capture amoving image or passing scene, you may not have time toconsider issues such as lighting or f/stop settings so you mayneed to use the automatic setting on your camera, if it has one.If you are taking photos of individuals who are clearly awarethat you are photographing them, it is best to ask their permis-sion, and perhaps offer to give them a copy of the finished

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photo if this is possible. Documentary images can be powerfulreminders of the social or political issues of the countries youhave visited.

Genre exerciseExpand your photographic horizons by taking photos of a widevariety of people, places and things while you’re abroad. Becreative so that you come home with more than clichéd viewsof famous monuments and shots of 25 churches you can’tdistinguish from each other. Here are some ideas to get youstarted:

Store window displaysClose-ups of the bricks or stones that make up the local build-ingsChildren playingWheels: bicycles, cars, subways, machineryPeoples’ shoesFruit and vegetablesUnusual views of familiar landmarks: take the photo fromabove or below or tilt the camera for a different p.o.v.AnimalsReflections in windowsInteresting signsCool or unusual architectural details (Look UP as you walkdown the street.)Locals working: the butcher, the mail carrier, the street vendor,the person who works at your favorite bakeryCrouch down and take photos at street levelGraffitiTrain and subway stationsStreet musiciansRooftopsWrought-iron fencesNighttime views

The authors would like to thank the students of Union Collegeand Hobart and William Smith Colleges for their photographs,and Magdalena Piascik (WS ‘06) for help organizing this manualand the accompanying workshop.

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Part Seven: What to Do With YourPhotogrpahs?

So, you come back from abroad with 3000 digital images or 37rolls of film in a big ziploc bag. What do you do with yourimages? Many students like to make albums (online or in bookform), and it’s always a good idea to label your photographswhile the information is still fresh. Believe it or not, in 10 yearsyou might forget where that picture was taken, or who is in it.

Other than showing your photos to your friends and family, youcan also:

1.) submit your best photos to publications like Abroad View(www.abroadviewmagazine.com) or Glimpse(www.glimpseabroad.com).

2) enter your work into your campus photo contest.

3) Apply to exhibit your photographs (or yours along with someother photographers) at one of your on-campus gallery spaces.

4) submit your photos to your campus newspaper, or put themtogether into a photo-essay for publication.

Photographing to Explore: a handbook for travellers(c) 2008 All Rights ReservedPublished by the Center for Global EducationHobart and William Smith CollegesGeneva, NY [email protected]

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Front Cover Photograph: Boy in Market, India, Tobias LeegerBack Cover Photograph: Gypsy, by Leidy Sanchez