Reflection

Reflection, originally uploaded by danielharbord.

So this was the first photo that I have submitted to 52x3. Yet another iphone photo. At this rate I might sell all my camera gear as they're not getting a look in.

Actually it's not just my iphone at play here. I really found it tough to find a shot for my chosen theme of reflection. I wanted to do something about myself. I am just changing career - from an assistant's role in law to a secondary school history teacher. I have a month off to get used to the idea and prepare for yet another trip to college. It seemed a pretty good time to reflect, and hence the theme.

It turned out that building the challenge up in my head made it almost impossible to find a shot I was happy with. I generally take photos on the spur of the moment, with only minimal planning. I thought of all sorts of ideas about staging shots but all just didn't seem to be me. I want to try different techniques but not depart from my own style completely.

In the end I was looking at my old medium format camera and testing the focus in the mirror. Then it came to me to shoot the viewfinder with my iphone and see what would happen. The iphone's shiny back reflected a whole load of light onto the viewfinder which was reflecting back at me. At first this was very frustrating as I could not get a proper shot of the what the vintage camera was focusing on. But then I realised that I could see my own face from 2 perspectives. I really liked that effect and went with it. Loaded up hipstamatic with some b&w film and bang!

I'm pretty happy with it. I like the fact that it was spontaneous. I was a little annoyed with my framing and the fact that it's a little blurry so I tried a few other shots but none had the same feeling as the first.

I strongly believe that this is what is in decline in photos these days. We all have such precision instruments that all we are led to strive for is the sharpest, highest resolution photo with spot on exposure. We often forget that these are only secondary to the feeling of the shot. This photo has a lot of faults but I like it because it harks back to this point.