The Chopping Chef

The Chopping Chef

Down the street was the chopping sound of blade hitting a board echoing out, filling the narrow street I had ventured down. You get used to the sound about you. They describe to your mind what might be going on ahead.

A man looking derelict was stretched on a stairway, leading into a dark small restaurant which had four tables. A woman feeding her child at one table, a few men sitting back in the dark watching me. To them I blocked what little natural light that was entering the entrance. The chopping sound was to my right. I started to encounter what most street photographers don't want to experience while shooting. The potent fumes of a lot of fresh onions. Your eyes burning your vision become a problem. You just stand there with camera in hand. The light from the street becomes blinding. and your are in a space with people you haven't determined are safe enough. You could stumble into the sitting woman, or panic.

The choices and skill level become basic fast.

I chose to fake it and fight the burn. It was the right lens, the right camera and the knowledge of presetting my exposure before I walked into the very low light space filled with people at high noon.

I just started asking questions, and started shooting. Olympus has the best lowlight focusing system on the planet.

The little voce inside me said. "Glenn, feel the force". Thanks Spielberg for writing those lines in Star Wars 1". Strange how a Hollywood movie could enshure trust during a moment of physical pain to your running eye. When I felt I had shot enough, I calmly wiped my eyes , departed into the light slowly leaving everyone with the question what had just happened.

Well I could answer that from over a few thousand miles now. They just had a photographic encounter with Glenn of the third kind.

For me. I wasn't there just to take a picture, but rather to live the moment with all its obstacles. When you hurt you learn that shooting isn't about cool pictures but about the world people live in and die.

So I say thanks Olympus, and thank god I didn't order tea , coffee, or something to eat in a physical moment being partially blinded by the fumes of fresh onions.

Back in the light I had tears streaking down my face from dirt, and street volumetric dust and onions. The people that saw me in the Himalayas must have thought I was a big crybaby. When I think about it now. I see it as a real moment that photography allows you to experience if you are up to reality.

Oh by the way if you are to go shooting with me, don't select the Burger King or Starbucks with wifi.


Cheers