This first image was taken right around the time the new Halifax central library opened up. Everyone flocked there because it’s just an incredible place to be. The architecture, the rooftop, the books, it’s a book lovers paradise. I believe I was walking to school when I saw this image. Never forget you must always be prepared as a street photographer, if I waited a few seconds later these two people would’ve changed their gestures and the photo would be gone.
This image was taken for the blue nose marathon, an annual all ages marathon that occurs every year in Halifax. The city closes down the streets and thousands of people come to participate. I was still very much into panning the camera with a slow shutter speed and thanks to all the time I spent practicing on cars I was confident in my ability to try it out in this situation. The race was just about over and this was one of the first contestants to make it to the finish line for his age group. I guess luck was on my side that day because his face had the perfect expression of determination.
This is one of those half lie photographs. This scene originally had one very distracting car shining its headlights to the left of the couple, a pretty big anoyance which at the time I felt it was okay to Photoshop out. It’s interesting to think about how my current self finds this unacceptable, kind of like cheating, but when I think back about how previous Jeremy felt it makes sense. I was just trying to make an image that I was happy with, not necessarily maintain a certain ethic along with the image making process. I’m not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing, both ideologies have certain flaws. I still feel as though it’s important to maintain an anti-Photoshop ethic because it’s who I am as an artist. I’m trying to show you a two dimensional arrangement of the things that you could potentially capture yourself, not a dickied assortment of things that fit into my idea of what’s beautiful. Except that’s precisely what I’m doing when I choose to put four corners around the world. This is where all logic evaporates and my only response is that this is how I want to photograph. I’m stubborn.
Speaking of silly ethics that previous Jeremy had no notion of is the idea that using a telephoto lens for street photography is wrong. I don’t usually choose to use telephoto lenses because it’s usually better to just be in the same space as the people you’re photographing, it appears more intimate. This day was just a random walk where I happened to have a telephoto lens on, and I happened to see this image come by.
This last image was taken for Halifax dance (and I feel quite privileged to still have it be displayed on their home page). This was undoubtedly one of the best photos I took during my school years. I remember the discussion I had with my instructor about it and I said I didn’t really feel like a great photographer for taking it, I just felt like someone that got lucky enough to be there when the fog came in to cover the unpleasant industrial park in Dartmouth. His response was that luck is being in the right place and the right time and knowing what to do. The latter part is something that requires skill and can’t be stressed enough. By this point in time I had a pretty good understanding of my camera and what needed to be done in a situation with fast moving subjects. Looking back now my school taught me something that was incalculably valuable. It taught me what to do when I want to take a photo, and how to make the photo come out the way I see it in my mind. In a plain sentence this seems pretty boring, and kind of stupid, but in reality being able to have the ability to create a work of art has helped me in ways that I can now barely imagine what my life would be like without it. Thank you to everyone that helped teach me along the way.