Photo Corners headlinesarchivemikepasini.com
A S C R A P B O O K O F S O L U T I O N S F O R T H E P H O T O G R A P H E R
Enhancing the enjoyment of taking pictures with news that matters, features that entertain and images that delight. Published frequently.
Friday Slide Show: City Safari
12 April 2024
Photographers have always been susceptible to the attraction of a safari.
The trouble, for us anyway, is when we hear the phrase "Big Game," we think of Stanford-Cal not lions and elephants. We're city dwellers. So when it comes to going on safari, we just take a streetcar downtown.
It's just as dangerous, you might think for all the bad press downtowns have been getting lately. But as anyone who has actually been downtown can tell you, the reports are greatly exaggerated. Downtown is alive and well.
It's full of survivors, in fact. Just the colorful kind of aboriginals you'd want to meet if, say, you were a tourist.
Every one of the 19 images in this slide show illustrates some urban irony.
So when we went downtown last week, we had a ball talking diamonds with an bow-tied appraiser, visiting the hallowed Mechanics' Institute and wandering around our old haunts.
But a safari is for shooting not visiting.
So after our tour was done, we took our Nikon D300 out of its holster and started shooting.
Now you might think we were risking life and limb walking around with a dSLR even if it wasn't a particularly valuable one. Assailants aren't appraisers, after all.
But, as with any safari, we take precautions.
We've grown a mangy beard, wear dark glasses, dress Friday casual and maintain a spry, youthful pace. We also tuck the camera, strapped to our wrist, under our arm so it isn't very visible. And we can growl if the occasion calls for it.
"Oh, are you a photographer?"
When we hear that disturb the urban peace we're enjoying, we ignore it. We won't be engaged in a distraction. We're on safari, not looking for clients. Let the offending party wonder if we forgot our hearing aids.
No, instead, we are keen to the discrepancies and dissonance of city living. Every one of the 19 images in this slide show illustrates some urban irony. They will fly by too fast for you to notice, perhaps, but just as quickly we had to appreciate it on the street.
And we had a ball. With diamonds in our pocket.
