Down the drain

Water drops on their way to the drain. How many do you need a day?

Water supply for our daily use is getting shorter everywhere. OK, mankind is creative. We're creating alternatives to oil. Brazilian sugar cane ethanol is just an example of that. Some might say more ethanol means less food, but I don't think so. Growing both food and fuel is not a utopia. It's just about having technology and good policies. But I rather doubt we could create an alternative to water.

It's a very simple ratio, we either save water or perish. Think it this way, the very future of your children may be going down the drain as you take a long shower. Terrifying, isn't it?

Once upon a tree

In the forest, I found this big tree that had been cut not long ago. What a pitty.

The Chromatic Minimalism Manifesto

Chromatic minimalism – or minimalistic color photography, whatever you will. I’ve seen the term in some texts referring to photographs that show few colors, or even referring to black and white photographs. And I’ve also seen it in texts that have nothing to do with photography at all. But I present it here as something different. I propose that it be used as an alternative to the black and white aesthetics in photography. I propose it as referring to pictures that, though shot in colors, avoid the excess of chromatic information.

But the goal is not simply to avoid the excess of colors. It is to try and find aesthetic effects through the contrast between two or three dominant colors in the photograph. I therefore present the “blue versus green”, the “brown versus lilac”, and so on, as options to the “black versus white” or the “light versus dark” aesthetics. And the pursuit of a tension between the colors has a reason to exist. It is the assumption that this kind of photograph would just not have the same impact if it were to be seen in B&W.

Would it be an “anti-Salgado” way of photographing? I don’t think so. I’m not against the B&W counter-light that Sebastião Salgado captures so well in his photographs. And no one could deny the quality of his work or his great influence over the modern aesthetics of photography. (I’ve made myself some experiences with B&W, counter-light photography. Everybody wants to shoot in B&W like him. That’s specially appealing to Brazilian photographers.) But the chromatic minimalism I have in mind is to some extent opposed to the B&W aesthetics.

I present below my proposals to what chromatic minimalism (as I conceive it) should stand for:

- B&W is not chromatic minimalism. B&W is B&W.

- There must be two dominant colors in the photograph. Three is acceptable provided that one of them is either black or white.

- Black and white should not be the two dominant colors; otherwise it would be better to shoot in B&W, not in colors.

- There must be a contrast, a tension between the dominant colors. That’s what makes them dominant. One adds value to the other.
- Computer enhancing information that already is in the photograph is OK; computer modifying it is not. Specially if it implies changing the original colors of what you’ve captured. A pink cow at a blue pasture for example. Besides revealing a questionable artistic taste, it doesn’t fit what I propose. (Not that I’m against Photoshop or similar applications, but the chromatic minimalism must be pursuited before you press the shutter button, not by digital trickery afterwards.)

- Combining elements in focus with elements out of focus in the photograph is welcome.

There’s one more thing. Photographing in B&W is a question of choice. But that’s not the case when it comes to chromatic minimalism. Sometimes I don’t decide that I will photograph in CM. I simply realize I’ve done it after doing it. Some other times I do try to photograph in CM, but the need to show more colors imposes itself as a better choice at that particular moment.

That’s why only a few of the pictures I take I would file under CM. It’s not like switching from color to B&W film or changing the image recording settings of your digital SLR from color to B&W. It’s about having the chance and trying to do it. And sometimes it’s doing it by instinct and then realizing you’ve done it. So it’s not just a question of choosing, it’s also a question of having the chance to do it. And that’s what is cool about it.

Thom the turtle?

"If I could be who you wanted"

Radiohead’s Thom Yorke sometimes reminds me of a fake plastic human being. And one day I was almost convinced that Radiohead was a fake plastic rock ‘n’ roll revolution. A friend was hearing a song in my car. He smiled and said Radiohead was really great and made distinctive, new rock music. But the song was “Age of consent”, composed and recorded by New Order in the early 1980’s.

My daughter was given the tiny plastic turtle pictured above when she was playing in an amusement park. She found it very ugly. But I liked it from the start. I find it much photographable and have made some macros of it. I’m thinking of naming it Thom.

Madeira River

A river about to change

The picture shows a woman fishing by the Madeira river, near Porto Velho, the capital of the state of Rondonia. The fisherwoman is actually my mother. We were back to our birthplace for vacation in July.

The Madeira river comes from the Andes mountains in Bolivia and makes its way through the forest down to the Amazonas. The part of the river seen in the photograph will soon change completely. A lake will form when the Madeira River hydroelectric power plant be created, which is expected to happen within the next years.

There is currently plenty of debate in Rondonia about the social, environmental and economic impacts of the two power plants to be built in the Madeira. The other one is the Jirau power plant, about a hundred kilometers west of Porto Velho.

Be it as it will, financial speculation thrives in the city. New money is coming in. Real estate prices are booming. New buildings a re under construction throughout the city and cement is already hard to find.

The Madeira river was portrayed in the famous Brazilian novel “Mad Maria”, by writer Márcio de Souza. It is about the construction of the Madeira-Mamore railroad in the early 20th century. A TV series was later filmed based on the novel.

The Madeira-Mamore railroad brought a short-lived economic boom to the region by the time of its construction. But it soon proved to be a complete social and economic fiasco. Thousands of Indians and workers died. The former were killed by the “civilized” white men. The latter fell victims of malaria fever and other tropical diseases combined with dreadful working conditions in the jungle.

Will the power plants and the money they bring give Rondonia a better fate this time? What stories will be written about them a hundred years from now? We can only speculate.

Star trailing

In the Porto Velho skies

Above a first experience with star trails. It was made with a D40X Nikon digital SRL. For the 28 minutes exposure, I had to buy the camera's expensive infrared ML-L3 remote control.

In the first attempts, the city lights ruined the photos in Bauru, Sao Paulo. The picture above was made in Porto Velho, Rondonia (where the city lights did ruin some photos too).

So far I've learned there's still a lot to be learned to get real good star trails. I'll keep trying.

Basic photography tips (that people usually ignore)

No built-in flashes please

If you don't have a tripod, buy one. If you're not a pro, it doesn't have to be large. A mid-sized or even a small one will do and could be mounted on a chair or table if necessary. And if there's no way you can get the tripod, the same chair or table could help you proceed as described below.

Even for posed photos, people usually use the built-in flash of their digital cameras when the scene is too dark. But since the photo is posed, a better option would be to turn the camera to manual mode, select a longer exposure time and use a tripod instead of the built-in flash.

The longer exposure time is necessary so that more light can pass through the lens and the picture therefore won't look dark. But exposure times lower than 1/60 seconds usually yield shaken photos due to the movement of pressing the button, or even due to your breathing. So the tripod and the camera timer should be used.

Yes, the camera timer. Every digital camera I've seen or heard of has a timer. Check your camera's manual to learn how to use this function. The good news is that once you've learned how to use it, you can press the button, run to join the rest of the group and appear in the picture too.

Ok, the people posing for the picture would have to hold their position a bit longer, but usually it won't take more than a few seconds. It wouldn't hurt.

But if you really want the credits for that great photo, don't join the group you're photographing. It would be hard to convince people you're the photographer if you're one of the smiling faces in the picture!