civilized ku # 2447 ~ crammed to the rafters (with complete disclosure)
Thursday, January 10, 2013 at 03:52PM ;)
Reading Terminal Market ~ Philadelphia, PA • click to embiggenWhile in Philadelphia over the holidays, we stayed in a hotel which was right next to the Reading Terminal Market, the former Reading Railroad terminal and company headquarters. The terminal is now a market with over 100 vendors. The place is huge and crammed to the rafters, so to write, with a seemingly endless array of food merchants - baked goods, meats, poultry, seafood, produce, flowers, ethnic foods, cookware and small eclectic restaurants - and about one zillion people.
We visited the market several times during our stay - why eat hotel food when the real thing is but a few steps away? During one visit I made a couple pictures and my first impression was to picture with a moderate wide angle lens (35mm equiv). However, upon further consideration I used a moderate telephoto lens (90mm equiv.) instead.
My reason for this choice was simple - even though the place was ginormous, what I saw and felt was a chaotic jumble of signs, vendor stalls, and people. It was an exquisite example of information overload. To my eye and sensibilities, a wide angle view just didn't convey the sense of the jammed together feel of the place. So, even though my moderate telephoto view does not convey the shear size of the place, IMO, it does convey the feeling of what I saw and experienced.
So, a moderate telephoto view was just what the eye doctor ordered because, IMO, picturing making is all about picturing what you see and feel, although ...
... in the interest of full disclosure, I have a confession to make ....
This picture is the only picture I ever have published here on The Landscapist which has been cropped, albeit a very miniscule amount. As can be seen in figure 1 below, I cropped, in the interest of better balance, to remove a small bit of the bottom of the image. While I pride myself on getting it "right" in-camera, I have no particular problem with cropping to improve an image. However, if that were the extent of my shenanigans, I wouldn't have mentioned it, but ....
.... that written, this picture is also the very first picture I have ever published here on The Landscapist (my life without the APA pictures excepted) which has been altered, relative to what my camera recorded, via Photoshop. The original image with the central man (facing the camera), figure 2 below, was made a fraction of a second after the image (not shown) I used to mask out the large foreground figure, who had entered the scene and visually dominated the right foreground. Evidence of that figure, just before he entered the scene, can be seen in the very lower right-hand corner of the final image.
Does this manipulation bother me? Sorta yes, sorta no. Sorta no - is the final picture an accurate representation of the look and feel of the scene? Yes, it is. Sorta yes - that written, no matter how you cut it, it's a manipulated picture.
In any event, let it never be said that I presented a picture as real when, in fact, it's only mostly real.
All of that written, now I can sleep sound as a baby - or is it the sleep of the damned? - tonight.
figure 1 • click to embiggen
figure 2 • click to embiggen
Reader Comments (4)
The sleep of the dammed for sure!
Oh dear Mark, now I'm afraid to say that you've gone right down in my estimation! Incidentally, this image was timely for myself as over Xmas I got to experiment with my new 35-100mm zoom. I've not used anything longer than 45mm for quite some time and upon reviewing the results have realised that it has to be treated differently to my usual lens lengths if I am to maintain my style. Funny thing is, I never recognised that when I used to have a big bag of full frame gear.
I am not sure what Colin is saying... a smiley face might have helped as I cannot imagine that cropping an image so slightly would bother anyone other than you. Was a confession really needed?
In the old days (film days) many photographers printed images so the film frame was included creating an interesting border but also attesting to the fact that the full image was intact as shot (of course today with Photoshop that can be easily be faked). I guess being so true to focal length and crop-free is not that high on my list of being truthful... but maybe it is just me?
John
No cropping ... other than cropping to square ! And you've previously discussed colour corrections, tonal adjustments and even the occasional B&W conversion (when not using a Leica Monochrom).
But I take your point ... your images do have the integrity of straight photography and that's what I have come to expect from this blog.