jasper tejano

dogwood photo challenge: inspiration

Week 24 Inspiration: Who inspires you (Inspiration comes from many places. Tell us about who inspires you.)

Sony NEX-5N f/13 1/800s 150mm 100 ISO

My introduction to Bruce Percy’s color landscape images invited me to study the amazing images of Michael Kenna and to visualize landscape photography through an eye towards minimalism and muted colors. “As I’ve grown older, I’ve found that I’m much more attracted to the wilderness and the people that live on the edges of it. Photography is a great way of getting closer to the land and the cultures that inhabit it.” ~Bruce Percy cited: Wotfoto.com

Ricoh GX100 f/3.5 1/620s 10.5mm 80 ISO

What I have found interesting in this exploration and study of various photographers, is that while I am inspired by Bruce Percy and Michael Kenna, I am also drawn to the street photographs created by Jasper Tejano who offers the viewer amazing colored images of life on the street, “… color street photography, to me, presents life with much more realism and dynamism. Especially with my work on silhouettes, the darkness of my subjects will just drown in the different shades of gray. I need color to make my subjects emerge from the frame.” ~Jasper Tejano

Images submitted in response to Dogwood Photography’s annual 52-week photography challenge.

a photo study: street variations

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Sometimes I wonder if life is just a series of links that takes us on journeys of multiple “turned corners” until we suddenly find ourselves in some unimagined place. This week’s photo study is such a journey undertaken to research the genre of street photography.

 

I found four amazing street photographers (David Geffin, Jasper Tejano, Fan Ho, Dotan Saguy).  Each of them inspired me to explore new ways of seeing the life around me through variations of  light, shadow, shapes, colors, and tones.  I invite you to wander about their online galleries.

“You don’t need to be on ‘a street.’ Street photography is more about capturing candid and often fleeting moments. If you think of street photography in that way, you will always be ‘out on the street,’ looking to make photographs.”  ~David Geffin

“Though I admire many street photographers who present their work in black and white, color street photography, to me, presents life with much more realism and dynamism. Especially with my work on silhouettes, the darkness of my subjects will just drown in the different shades of gray. I need color to make my subjects emerge from the frame.” ~Jasper Tejano

“I always had an instinct for light, shadow, lines and form but the second important thing is the subject matter; the character that will create empathy.” ~ Fan Ho (1931-2016)

Ted Forbes, The Art of Photography Remembering Fan Ho

“For me street photography is above all about people and moments. … it’s just a question of being present with all my senses. The best I can describe myself in that state is as a meditative hunter.” ~Dotan Saguy

I do hope you enjoyed your linked journey through these amazing images.  Do you have a street photographer that awes you?  If so, please share and tag with #aphotostudy.