A Few More Shots From An Urban Exploration Trip

Hip-hoppers and skateboarders are often seen together in many urban landscapes. Actually, these performing arts come from different US social and geographical milieus. However, in a world where different paths of life, cultures and traditions matter less and less, and everything is a ‘fusion’, this doesn’t look like an issue. So, while wandering around in search of some subject to test a 50mm Summicron M mounted on a Fuji X-T4, I was fortunate enough to kill two birds with one stone.

These couple of shots tested my manual focus ability to adapt in real time, without pre-focusing.

Here, stepping back a little would have allowed keeping the skater and the board within the frame.

These shots demonstrate different ways of photographing a hip-hop performance.

The main issue is that often the scene is impredictably busy, so it is very challenging to get an unobstructed view of a single performer. I embraced this situation, trying to compose the photo while taking into account the fact that someone else would inevitably be in the frame.

Another peculiarity of street performances is that the performer is often surrounded by his peers, who either cheer him on or move rhythmically while waiting for their turn to act. This allows to compose ‘horizontally’, including many people in the frame while keeping the focus on the main subject.

What makes this kind of composition challenging is the necessity to check all the individual interactions between the performers and take the photo when they all look connected each other. By failing to do so, all that lasts is a shot where everyone is on his own.

This is another example of what I mean.

As far as technicalities are concerned, these are not out-of camera JPGs with the embedded black-and-white profile.

I shot everything in RAW and then post-processed the pictures to get these results, in my current exploration of the actual usefulness of a monochrome camera.
So far, as my last posts already have anticipated, I don’t see a rational reason to get such kind of camera.

GAS, of course, is a horse of different colour.