Friday, January 13, 2006

A visit to Bhawar Singh's village, Jointra


On the road to Jointra, the village of my driver Bhawar Singh.


Jointra


Jointra


Jointra


Parents of my driver, Bhawar Singh. Jointra

4 comments:

Geoff said...

these are really good, it's hard to pick out just one or two which i especially like. but i think the one of the children running is my personal favourite. i think the composition of it is excellent, it kind of hovers on a knife edge between disaster and success, if you know what i mean.

do you think your composition techniques with the wide angle have improved on this trip ngiap heng?

Heng said...

Hi Geoff,

I have found the wide angle a bit harder to use than expected because of the distortion. The main thing that I have become very aware of is the lines and how they warp. There is always a choice to try and keep things straight or make use of the distortion. However, I have not grown that much in terms of overall composition. I find that what limits me is the shape of the frame and whatever lens I use on the 5D, it is still a 2:3 aspect ratio. I found the panoramic format harder to get used to, but it offered truly different framing which enabled me to do some really telling composition.

What has happened on this trip is that I have become looser in my photography, quite often shooting with my arm extended, as I would a digital point and shoot, and then edit.

With digital we shoot, pray and edit. With large format, We pray, edit and shoot. :)

pfong said...

Heng, I've enjoyed this series as well. It strikes me as being fresh and authentic.

I've been learning to use the lens correction tools in PS and it's possible to correct the first order type of barrel distortion.

I find that I'm shooting looser as well. It's easier for me to edit on a 17" screen rather than trying to frame it exactly in the viewfinder. Shooting a bit wider gives me some latitude to play with.

Heng said...

Hi Pfong,

Thanks for your comments. Rajasthan is probably the most touristy place in India outside Agra, where the Taj Mahal is. Going off the tourist map is where its happening. So the visit to my driver's village was a real gem.

I probably will not correct my images for distortion. I think that I will leave it. It is one of the times I can leave things be, as it came out. :)