Today Lingua Franca is Five Years Old

On January 1, 2013, Lingua Franca is five years old. Happy Birthday! Credit: Google Images.

Today is January 1, 2013.  For the Western World, this day is known as a New Year when millions and millions of persons make special plans for the future.  These future goals are called New Year’s Resolutions. Some of these resolutions will be remembered for only a few days and then swept away under the rug until the next year.  The goal most people write down is weight reduction.  Diets are popular New Years Resolutions.  Fat bellies are a no-no.

Last year my New Year’s resolutions were:  (BTW, all of them were accomplished within the year.)

• Purchase a DSLR Canon EOS Digital Rebel T2i  18MP by December 2012.
• Continue to polish up my English communication skills.
• Study formal photography through digital books downloaded through PC Kindle.

This year my resolutions are:

• Augment my English communication skills, specially in writing.
• Take a formal photography course from a professional photographer in Panama.
• Travel to the countryside to take photographs and document our country’s lifestyles and traditions.

All of the above are essential if I want to keep enhancing Lingua Franca.  Today I started making cosmetic changes to the web site, like inserting a new heading image.  I selected an elegant French palace in black and white to symbolize quality and photography.  These will be my new themes for the year.  My pictures should improve over the year after I take the photography course.  Black and white pictures are of great interest to me.  If Vivian Mair could make it big, at least I should  give it a try.

Today we are celebrating our fifth year writing almost daily posts in Lingua Franca. The same consistency is expected for year 2013.  If health and computers cooperate, there will be at least one post per day.  Most of these posts will include  images related to the topics discussed.  For the time being, the pictures are not really professional photographs per se; I would say they are snapshots.  However down the road, I intend to start posting real photographs based on formal photographic technical rules.  This is not an easy job.  It’s more easily said than done.  But you already know the famous quote of Lao-tzu, “A  thousand miles journey starts with a single step.”

Happy Birthday Lingua Franca! I wish you the best in 2013.  Let’s reach out to those far away places away from home, and touch millions of readers in every corner of the globe.  Good Day and Happy New Year as well.

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Explorer of Light: Klara Yoon

Credit: Klara Yoon author of Klara's Street photo blog.

“Life is like a good black and white photograph, there’s black, there’s white, and lots of shades in between.”—Karl Heiner

As I dig deeper and deeper into the magical world of photography, I begin to detect refreshing and inspiring discoveries.  One of them is the stunning work of Klara Yoon who authors a photo blog called, Klara’s Street.  Ms. Yoon lives in Berlin, but has made photographic excursions in several European sites such as Frankfurt, Hamburg, Austria, Latvia and Riga.  Her main focus is the street captured in black and white and all the zillion shades in between.

She introduces herself in her blog this way:

“Hello, I’m Klara, I live in Berlin, I love shooting the streets and I carry a camera with me all the time. After having neglected film for a long time, I’ve recently fallen in love with film and the smell of fixer again.

I love to capture people and their interactions and I do not want to hurt anybody by taking their picture. I have great respect for my subjects, still, if you recognize yourself in one of my photos and you don’t want it to be published, let me know and I will take it down. If you recognize yourself and you do like what you see, let me know I will send you a digital file or a print.”

The following paragraph pretty much summarizes her work:

“I really believe that photography is about light, shapes, colors and feelings.  But more than that, it’s about words.  Like an unspoken story about beauty, confusion, hate and love, the photographer has to tell his or her feelings with no one being around, and to choose a way to give to the people a piece of the world reflected in his or her eyes.”

In her blog she wrote; “I discovered that I loved harsh contrast and shooting around midday.”  This a characteristic of her photographic style which I have learned to appreciate and cherish.  Her style reminds me of the nanny turned street photographer—Vivian Maier.  In fact, Ms. Yoon mentions her name in her blog.

I have been blown away by her barrage of razor-sharp black and white pictures and her minimalistic narrative.  A blog post which I particularly love is called, The Year in Street Photography posted on December 26, 2011.  This is how she describes this specific post:

“2011 was the year I carried my camera almost everywhere, the year the camera became an extension of my right arm, the year I found myself on the streets over and over again, the year the streets accompanied me through my highs and lows. This post is not a personal best-of, but rather a selection of how I saw and felt about street photography in 2011.”

Photography is the art of drawing with light, and certainly Klara Yoon is a magnificent explorer of light.  I encourage you to invest quality time in appreciating her art by clicking this link.  You will thank me forever.  Good Day.

Source:  Klara’s Street

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Waiting In Line

Recently we drove over to El Dorado Mall to quote prices of white paint for a painting job at our house.  It was then when I stumbled into a stunning yellow sofa at the entrance of the paint shop.  We found the prices to be quite steep, a severe blow to our cash strapped budget.  We couldn’t buy the paint, so we headed back home thinking about opening a savings account to accumulate enough money to buy the paint in the future.

On the way back we dropped over at El Rey Supermarket to buy some food.  While my wife was combing the aisles, I searched for a chair, since I have a problem in my back and can’t stand up for extended periods of time.  I was fortunate in finding an empty chair in front of a Western Union’s site located inside El Rey.

While I waited for my wife perched in my comfortable chair, I observed the customers of Western Union waiting in line for their turn to make their money transactions.  Still under the spell of street photographer, Vivian Mair, I fetched my concealed camera under my sweater and took a furtive shot of the scene before me.  I did it swiftly, since taking picture inside the supermarket is not allowed.  I usually don’t like to break the law, but it was difficult for me not to follow Ms. Mair’s steps, capturing reality whenever you can.

Below is a snapshot of several clients waiting in line at a Western Union branch inside El Rey Supermarket of El Dorado Mall in the best spirit of Ms. Mair.   As you can see I’m becoming addicted to black and white street photography.  Here we go.

Snapshot of a couple of young women patiently waiting in line for their turn to be attended by a Western Union clerk inside El Rey Supermarket in Panama City, Panama. Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

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A Young Photographer

After being involved in photography for more than three years, I’ve kind of developed a taste for street photography and black and white pictures.  Enjoying the pictures of Vivian Maier, the eccentric nanny who turned into a street photographer, certainly induced me towards this special category of photography.  I can say I was captured by her spell.

Under her influence, I walk tirelessly through the streets of Panama City looking for ordinary people doing ordinary things.  These are the best subjects to photograph.

A couple of weeks ago, I went to El Dorado Mall, a few miles from my house, to appreciate a Chinese fair celebrating the traditional Chinese New Year often referred to as the Lunar New Year.  It was a wonderful experience and I took advantage to shoot several pictures of the Chinese culture.  During the next few days, I’ll post pictures of how the Chinese people celebrate their New Year in Panama.

Below is a picture of a little girl taking pictures of a fashion show taking place inside El Dorado Mall.  At such an early age she is already learning the ropes of photography.  I wish her well.  Who knows?  She could someday be seen on the front cover of Time Magazine as the Person of the Year.

Snapshot of a little girl taking pictures of a Chinese fashion show at El Dorado Mall during the Chinese Lunar New Year. Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

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Aerial View of Panama City in Black & White

Yesterday I posted several pictures of Panama City taken from the top of Ancon Hill.  All of them were color images.  For today’s post, I decided to switch to black and white pictures and compare the results.

After reading about Vivian Mair, the eccentric nanny turned street photographer, I’ve learned to enjoy pictures in plain black and white.  Somehow, they are able to convey messages in a much more dramatic way than color pictures.  If you have been reading Lingua Franca regularly, you have probably noticed that I’m including more black and white pictures.  Expect more of that in the future.

Below are some of my shots of Panama City taken from an impressive vegetation island known as Ancon Hill.  Click on the pictures to enlarge and appreciate them better.

Snapshot of the striking skyline of Panama City at the crack of dawn. Gotham City came to my mind when I saw the city from Ancon Hill. Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

The body of water towards your right is Panama Bay bordered by the recently built Coastal Strip. During the night the site is absolutely gorgeous. Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

Another picture of the metropolis which is rapidly transforming into a jungle of steel, glass and concrete. Progress is unstoppable. Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

Snapshot of the city's Old Shell, also known as Casco Viejo. Visiting this place is like turning your clock back in time. Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

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Imported Onions

Following Ms. Vivian Maier’s steps, I went yesterday to El Rey Supermarket at El Dorado to get some ATM money to pay my auto annual insurance—$121.26.  Now I’m covered until July 31, 2012.  One less debt to worry about.  While being there, I noticed three large shelves bursting with dry imported onions from The Netherlands.  The price tag was $0.69 a pound.

I intentionally had my ole Birthday camera with me and it was already set to Black & White pictures, the same way Ms. Maier did when she combed the streets of New York City and Chicago hunting for subjects to photograph.  In a humble homage to an eccentric nanny turned photographer, this is a picture of a tall heap of onions from abroad.  I’m sure she would have taken a picture like this.  Take a look.

Snapshot of a large heap of imported onions at El Rey of El Dorado selling for $0.69 a pound. Notice the nice round shapes of the onions. I liked it. Photo ©Omar Upegui R.

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An Eccentric Nanny Turned Street Photographer

Vivian Maier (1926-2009) - Credit: John Maloof

If you’ve been following Lingua Franca, you probably know that I’m learning the ropes of photography.  So far I’ve purchased one paperback photography book, Lansford’s Starting Photography:  The guide to creating great images written by Michael Langford & Philip Andrews.  I’ve also downloaded two PDF e-books on the subject, (e.g., Digital Photography Bible Desktop Edition by Dan Simon and The Elements of Photography:  Understanding and Creating Sophisticated Images by Angela Faris Belt.)

For almost three years, I’ve been constantly using my compact camera, trying to capture the elusive perfect picture.  But still no joy.  I understand perfection comes with perspiration and perseverance—lots of both.  So, I’m hanging in there, learning the “tricks of the trade” with my faithful old Birthday camera—Canon PowerShot A720 IS.

I consistently surf the web looking for photography-related websites in an effort to see what other professional and amateur photographers are doing.  It’s a great source of inspiration.  Yesterday I stumbled into an enlightening story about a mysterious nanny that became a one-of-a-kind street photographer while wandering through Chicago and New York City looking for subjects to photograph during her days off.  The story is so far-fetched, it’s almost difficult to believe.

Vivian Maier is considered by her peers, as one of the finest street photographers of the mid-twentieth century.  Little is known about her, except that she worked as a nanny for families on the North Shore in Chicago from the mid 1950s into the 90s.  She was kind of a loner and spoke with a strong French accent.  She also had strong opinions about movies and politics.  And on her days off, she always carried a camera.

In 2007, John Maloof, a 26-year-old real estate agent, by accident came upon an auction of several items from a repossessed storage locker, including a box filled with photographic negatives.  At that time, Maloof was working on a book about his north-west-side neighborhood.  Following a gut feeling, he bought the collection of  repossessed items for $400.00.  Little did he know what Destiny had in store for him.

When he got home, he found 30,000 negatives inside the plastic boxes.  The huge mountain of photographic negatives took his breath away.  Before him were thousands of scenes from the cities of Chicago and New York depicting the everyday life of its inhabitants.  David Dunlap, of The New York Times wrote the following description of Ms. Mair’s work:

“Ms. Maier’s streetscapes manage simultaneously to capture a redolent sense of place and the paradoxical moments that give the city its jazz, while elevating and dignifying the people in her frames—vulnerable, noble, defeated, proud, fragile, tender and often quite funny.”

Intrigued by these mysterious negatives, this most fortunate eBay entrepreneur, has been digging into the beautiful mystery of Vivian Maier.   He’s now in the process of making a name for this eccentric woman who created art on the streets of several American cities.

John Maloof’s investigations revealed that Vivian Maier was born in New York in 1926, lived in France, and returned to New York in 1951.  Five years later, she moved to Chicago, where she worked for about forty years as a nanny for families in the North Shore suburb.

On her days off, she strolled through the streets of New York City and Chicago, with her Rolleiflex twin lens reflex camera.  Apparently, she did not share his pictures with others.  Many of them, she never saw herself.  She left behind hundreds of undeveloped rolls of film.

Photographs destined for the garbage bin now lure gallery exhibitions across the nation, a forthcoming book, and a documentary film are currently in progress.  It’s amazing that this obscure nanny captured the lives of ordinary people, and without knowing, shook the world of street photography, and irrevocably changed the life of the man who brought these snapshots to the public eye.

It’s difficult to describe my emotions after reading about this woman and her passion for street photography.  I’ve seen her vast collections of pictures and wish to learn more from her.  Her pictures look so warm and humane; they’re almost alive.  This is exactly what I’ve been trying to express for many years in my blog Lingua Franca.  Both of us are amateur photographers, but with a great passion to feel the pulse of the city.  I’m still captured by her spell.  The world is still a wonderful place to live in thanks to people like Vivian Maier.  Good Day.

Source:  Vivian Maier – Her Discovered Work 

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