From my Photography Portfolio – ‘Egypt-Mother and Child’
Location
During a 3 month trek across Egypt, I spent some time in Cairo, visiting my friend Simon who moved over to Egypt from England several years back. Cairo was actually my first port of call before my planned trek, to take in as much of Egypt as possible. Spending a week, with a friend who knew the city was so helpful in ‘bedding’ me in to the culture and culture shock before heading off on my own.
Taken in the beautiful grounds of the Cairo Museum, under the shade of tree’s. If you have been there then you will know the garden as round walls around trees and various statues. So this is where I was seated. Initially just taking in the sights and sounds, a mother and child sat down about 5ft away from me.
My Thinking
Every so often, the kid would peer round the protective cover of his mum and look at me with these huge eyes. Now being the considerate photographer I am, and mostly being aware of how rude just taking my camera out with its big telephoto lens and pointing it at them both would look, I considered my options. I knew this could be a awesome series of shots if I could pull it off.
One needs to be cautious and respectful of people’s privacy, especially in a foreign country, so I was comforted knowing I had been polite so far.
The next step was to keep my camera down by my waist, where it was hanging, but angle it up and hope for a decent frame. Trying to keep it as ‘covert’ as possible, without raising any suspicion. Very sneeky and not at all how I wanted to handle it, but I couldn’t just point and shoot. Too rude. And to ask would have destroyed the moment.
Every time the kid peered round, I snapped off a few shots whilst I kept eye contact with the kid and tried to grin myself. In my thoughts hoping that I had got the framing right, and all the other details. SO it was just press and hope for the best. Story of my life really.
The child was very cautious at first, only peering around a tiny bit, before darting back behind protective cover of mum. But each time, he became a little more confident, and his eyes got wider and the smile got more trusting. And each time I snapped a few frames.
I was caught tho. The mother happend to just look round, and I took a gulp. But all was OK, she looked at me, then the camera and smiled. So I took the initiative and held up the camera and pointed and gestured a sign ‘would you like to look?’. So I carefull edged over showing her the LCD on the back of the camera and she had a huge smile on her face after seeing the photos.
My only regret was not being able to communicate with her to get an address, as I would have loved to have been able to send her the shots.
This photo was one of many, but was pretty much one of the last taken. The rest were either wonky or too blurry. I think I took about 20, of which only several came out sharp and pretty much perfect.
Photoshop
The photos taken with my trusted Canon D300 and a 200mm zoom. Enough natural light to be able to have a nice shutter speed and ‘duff’ out the background.
Although the original photo is actually very good, I have made several versions of it using various subtle color washes.
I have also ‘dodged’ and ‘burned’ aspects of the photo, the child etc to really try and emphasis the white eyes against the dark skin and the mothers black attire. The look is not totally natural, but it’s what I wanted to achieve and I love it.
Overall
It proves that being in the right place at the right time with the right subject can ensure a ‘one off’ image. I keep looking at it time and time again and it brings back such vivid memories of Egypt and the initial innocence of a child, who slowly over time gets more confident and almost playful with the unknown. The unknown being me.
See other selected photographs from my Portfolio
Article Posted On: March 7, 2009 at 9.51 am
Written By
In Categories: Photography, Portfolio
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12 Comments
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This is beautiful!
Gorgeous shot! :)
Nice photo. And knowing a bit on how the shot came about adds that little something extra.
It’s a beautiful photo, but I’m concerned about ethics… Sorry – don’t mean to be negative, but if I discovered someone had posted a photo of my toddler on a public website without my permission, I would be incensed.
Karyn-> Not sure I fully understand the ethical debate. I showed the mother the photo and she was delighted with the pictures I had taken. Had she not been then I would not of taken it further.
Do you really think I am being irresponsible for posting a ’safe’ and ‘respectable’ portrait that only shows the smiling head of a child?
Are you are going in the direction of posting pictures of children in bathing suits?
I personally think the photo is fine. A society that is scared of itself and everyone around it isn’t a society at all. The mother seemed to be okay with the photo in this case. You will always stretch into the debate about whether it’s right for a photographer to snap a random picture or not. As long as your not exposing the child in any kind of negative way I see no harm in this.
Oh dear. I’m not trying to stir up a hornet’s nest here. But being okay with a photo being taken is a long way from agreeing to have it published for all the world to see. For example, I once published (to my FB page) a photo taken at a barbecue at my home, in which some of our closest friends appeared. The wife contacted me and asked me to take it down. She was offended that I had not asked her permission to post a photo in which she appeared and considered it a betrayal of trust. She knew I had taken the photo and had no problem with that, it was the public airing she took exception to.
The ‘children in bathing suits’ reference is completely lost on me, I’m afraid. If it refers to perverts ogling pictures of children, and fuelling their sick fantasies, that is not at all where I was heading. It is quite evident that this picture is not of that sort. There is no argument that it is a picture that is both beautiful and innocent. That is not at issue.
Branden has said he sees ‘no harm in this’, but (and I mean no offence here) it isn’t really up to him… or to me. It is up to the mother of the child. And she wasn’t consulted (granted this was due to a language barrier, but the fact remains.)
Let me provide a little context. I sometimes design elearning resources for an educational body. In these we include photos of children to illustrate a point or to add interest to a page. In every case, unless there has been signed release from the parents of every single child in the picture, we may not use the image (in every case, the children are fully clothed, so the question of decency does not come into it).
When you upload images to iStock, you have to declare that you have obtained a release from the ‘models’ to use the picture.
When you publish a photo on Facebook, you have to declare that you have the right to distribute the image.
It is my understanding that no such release was given here. And this is the point that makes me raise the question.
Branden makes the argument that society has become over protective. That is a personal opinion (and possibly a valid one – this is not the place to have that debate), but the data protection act in the UK would probably prohibit the use of this image without parental release. Whether you, Branden or I disagree with the provisions of this act, it doesn’t give us the right to ignore it as an inconvenience. Instead, if (as Branden seems to indicate) he considers it unnecessarily stringent, he should use the machinations at his disposal to agitate for change.
Apologies for the lengthy comment. I hope I have clarified my stance with no ill-feeling on either side.
I love it!
great work, quite eerie but i love it!
According to this article http://www.tutorial9.net/photography/your-rights-as-a-photographer/ ; photographs which are considered ‘art’ (and this includes photographs in an artist’s portfolio) may be published without official consent from the people in the shot. However this varies from one country to another.
[...] I love this picture for which there is also a back story – ‘Egypt-Mother and Child’ [...]
Great to know that you have been to Egypt !