Photos taken: 14th November 2022 (11/14/2022, 1:56:09 PM)
Published: 24 November 2022
The hot☀️ summer is just around the corner and the days are now bigger and brighter ✨️ 💛 💖 😌 💓 ☺️ ✨️ than ever before, here in Sydney. During this time of the year the wonderful spring flowers are in full bloom – specially the mesmerizing Jacarandas – in many parts around the CBD. It’s vibrant purple 💜 colors will definitely throw you off balance by throwing in some majestic vibe into the mundane of your daily rituals.
With the weather at its absolute best, I couldn’t wait to get back into my project. After finishing my household chores when I reached Circular Quay it was past midday. The reason for going there was very straightforward. And yes, you guessed it right – those Jacaranda trees. Right next to the entrance to the station – while heading towards the museum – there were those excellent Jacaranda flowers with its vibrant purple colors that will give a very warm and colorful welcome as you walk under those trees.
The weather was sunny, the flowers are in full bloom and all I needed was an interesting subject with little bit of time for some photos.
While roaming around that area – in half an hour or so – Marie (Mah-ghe as she said it in German) came along to fulfill my desires whom I met right in front of the museum. Her bright skin tones and brown hair was what I was missing in these excellent settings.
Similarly, during these early days of summer in this wonderful Spring season of jaw–dropping colors, along with its very comfortably warm ambiance, people would be on the street having outdoor fun partying till late here in this beautiful land of Australia. Well, if that sounds too much of a fantasy then I would definitely suggest making an adjustment to your itinerary making sure Sydney is on that list for your next holidays during these months.
And surprise, surprise: that’s exactly what my wonderful stranger did! She wants to avoid the cold winter in Europe to enjoy the summer here in this beautiful part of the world. (See the video below).
She was about to make a trip to Byron Bay in a few days.
“Byron Bay up to East Coast” …
“I want to learn how to surf 🏄♀️”
“Never done in the past.” – she added. And hence, at the very onset of this meeting I jokingly said: “so, you are in a party🐮 mood.” at which we both laughed. Later, sharing the details of the project I took her to a nearby spot and took some photos.
After this pleasant exchange however, she became unsure of the purpose of my taking her photos. And hence, it was time to take a step back. Furthermore, one thing – and to my current understanding it’s probably one of the biggest challenges that I faced so far during this project – is to get people relaxed. Out of all those people that I met, none of them were obviously prepared for a photoshoot beforehand. None of them know that they would be approached by some random guy on the street asking them to participate in a project while taking their photos in the middle of the day. And as such they were all mostly preoccupied and busy with their own lives and when someone is not relaxed, the outcome – the photos – would become subpar; no matter what camera you used or what skills you might have or how great the settings may be. So, my first task in any photo shooting is to get them fully engaged bringing them out of their worry, out of their mundane routines and into some fantasy – into some fun.
When people have fun, they open up – they help you out. They improvise many different poses and expressions that anyone with a camera would be very fond of capturing. And to do that I needed a little bit of time to convince her.
“It’s just a job to take pictures? Or…”
“No, it’s just my hobby” “My job is very boring”
“Then you (post) some of them on…”
“website”
“On Flickr?”
“Yes”
“Flickr is the place where I got all these ideas…”
“And where do you upload them?”
“Okay you want to know…”
“You got all the information over here… you can take a picture…”
To make life easier I made a list of sites (Flickr, Instagram, Facebook etc.) and put it together so people can find me easily in those places.
“And what kind of website are these…”
“These are some of the people that I met…”
“And this is a website that you…”
“Yeah, it’s my website…”
“And why do you upload these photos??”
“Just for fun??”
“Yeah, it’s a blog”
“But with no bad intentions?”
“If You have any confusion whatsoever…”
“You have all the information you need. It’s all up here” (again, I show them the list)
“I want you to be relaxed…”
“If you’re not relaxed, if you’re too worried about stuff then it gonna make life difficult for me… you know”
“My job is to get some good photos out of you…”
And after this conversation, she seemed much more cooperative and as such she improvised many poses and even expressions on her own without me having to say a single word. Sometimes smiling, sometimes shifting to the left or to the right, sometimes making gestures, or sometimes responding to my questions she remained engaged into the session while I was busy with my camera.
Furthermore, it was past midday. The entire precinct was buzzing with tons of people – the employees, the tourists, the city rangers, the police – you name it. Circular Quay on a midday is as busy as it gets. The same reason – to avoid distractions – for which when I am at townhalls I take my strangers to Hyde Park – is exactly the opposite of what I had to do here at Circular Quay. It was packed with so many onlookers and despite those uncomfortable feelings we went on keeping the show going.
In photography what I really enjoy watching is the colors and the contrast. Furthermore, apart from the raw emotions that are portrayed in those photos, the main reason I like black and white photography for instance, is because of this contrast. It somehow intensifies those emotions – on a visceral level. Similarly, her hair was surely a great contrast for the wonderful spring colors that was on the display at that time.
“See the purple over there” (pointing to those Jacaranda flowers I remarked.
“What?”
“The purple… the color” – I went on
“It gonna create a little bit of contrast to your hair.”
Although when I first met her, I couldn’t see the wonderful wavy curly shapes of her hair as it was tied up. Later however, during this shoot I noticed it as she untied her hair. And with the help of the wind, it looked great. And finally, the contrast of the purple made it look excellent in this bright sunny atmosphere.
Since she was from Germany, I was reminded of one of my other encounters from a few months back. When I asked about which part of Germany she was from, she mentioned of coming of Southwest. I had absolutely no idea about the geography of that country. However, looking at her hair-untied photos, she somehow stuck me as a county girl. I added:
“Never been there (Germany)… I don’t really know anything about Germany btw.”
“I am from Southwest”
“Southwest?”
“What does Southwest mean?”
“Do you know a place called Birkhum” (remembering about the place from where my other encounter (mentioned above) was, I added)
“No”
“You look like a country girl 👢 👧”
Later however, when I came about the name of the place she was from (see the video), and as I lookup up the name (Karlsruhe) in google, I found out it was the third largest city in the country. Once again, I was proved totally wrong.
Finally, just like all other times in the past, meeting her was a mere coincidence. Yet, her cooperation and patience and my experiment with different environmental settings and many trial and errors with the subject and light made this a great session that I and she too perhaps enjoyed participating. Although due to language difficulties our communication was not the best, we both enjoyed, nonetheless. Her initial hesitance was totally buried under a huge bucket of fun in the end.
