Shooting with Mariana: Downtown, 6.19.19
They say the mark of knowing is if you can teach someone. Although I may not know much, practicing keeps me learning so when Mariana hit me up to shoot, I was down for the cause. I’ve shot downtown many, many times before, but it’s the challenge of capturing the city in new ways that draws me back. I remember my favorite rapper (Lil’ Wayne) once said in an interview he will give you not necessarily what you want to hear, but what you haven’t heard. Wayne goes on to mention he’s been in the game 20 years so finding something he hasn’t said before is difficult, but it only makes him better. I take that mindset with me whenever I lift a pen, pick up a camera, or record a song. In the wake of love and perseverance, constant challenge leads to constant improvement, which for a creative leads to satisfaction. I told Mariana if she wanted to shoot, we should shoot downtown because there are a lot of subjects (buildings, people, etc.) to begin with. Also, when I began shooting, I did the majority of my photography during the night. Looking back in hindsight, this was advantageous to me as photography is based off light and having little to no light allowed me to learn manual controls faster as well as forced me to get creative with my process because of said lack of light.
Of course, being a June night in North Carolina, it was humid. It wasn’t too hot, yet it was warm as the sun was setting. We walked around for an hour and captured all the photos we could. We tried to use the restroom of an Italian restaurant, but they told us we needed to be customers. Luckily for us a security guard at one of the Wells Fargo buildings led us to bathrooms we could use. I remember walking into the men’s restroom thinking how small it was and how 90’s the vibe felt. Architecture and interior design fascinate me because similar to photography, they can evoke an emotional response. With interior design especially, one can truly and physically immerse themselves in their emotions. We walked around the city for an hour before calling it a night. I’ll share with you a journal entry from the running diary (http://rdl4ever.tumblr.com) I wrote about a humbling interaction we had with a stranger.
losing my bearings, 6.15.19
just as we were going to the elevator to the underground parking deck, an older white guy sitting on a nearby bench said something to us. he said the ‘n’ on barings on the building in front of us had been out for two nights now. he said he saw us shooting and wanted to tell us in case we didn’t notice. i thought that was pretty kind of him. he went on to say when he thinks of barings (bearings), he thinks of how his are loose. he laughed and wished us a good night.
as we were going to the car, i couldn’t help but to think how simple joy can be at times and how one interaction could change your whole perspective on life, if not for the long run, for the moment.
-ratha, 10:25pm, 6.15.19
Check out 11 photos I took from Mariana and I’s session downtown. Let me know what you think in the comments!
My favorite photo I took from shooting downtown with Mariana.
(Click on the photos to enlarge and right key progress through photos. If photos appear pixelated while enlarged, wait a few seconds for the display to adjust. Thanks!)
