for the love of DC photography
The longer you look at this photo from Chris McDaniel, the more faces appear before you. He captured the feeling of hustling down a busy sidewalk, and the blur of activity, moments, signs, and people that exist for just a moment in your peripheral vision before you move on.
It’s Friday, so it’s time for most of us to finish up work and try to relax – which I’ll try not to say in every single Friday In Frame, though it’s likely to continue influencing my choices. It’s been a particularly long week, so I was searching the pool for something soothing. Some lovely flora will sometimes do the trick, or perhaps a sunset over the water, and there’s always the cute doggie route. But then you run across this and have to start all over again. I kept coming back to this incredible street portrait by Lynford Morton. The lines are just perfect, with the trumpet parallel to the framing arch. The blue cast, that’s surely coming from the vibrant displays on the Verizon Center, makes it look as though our musician, who is somehow mastering the look of easy intensity, is standing on a club stage rather than the sidewalk. As Lynford noted on Flickr, “A guy in the crowd requested some New Orleans themed song, and when they got going, you couldn’t tell you weren’t on Bourbon Street.” And indeed, the entire image radiates that feeling.
In Artist Spotlight, we occasionally ask photographers to tell us in their own words about their work and how they challenge themselves. Today’s Spotlight is by Pablo Benavente.
– “These people come here to take our jobs, man.”
That’s what the guy on the street said to my coworker. Perhaps he thought that I was just another Latino that didn’t speak English, or perhaps he didn’t care.
Like many of you, I started in photography by taking photos of monuments, the zoo, parades, and sometimes friends and family. I shot using different styles, settings, reflections, sunsets, moon rises, filters, etc. As I learned and practiced, I started getting offers to do professional gigs like weddings, events which I still do. But inevitably, when you’ve tried many things, there’s a point at which you ask yourself: “Now what?”