Wandering Eyes Dispatch 6: “Santi”~ My photographic muse…

“Hello weirdly wonderful world”… 2010

Meet “Santiago de la Trinidad Quepónds”… My son and photographic muse, he is probably without a doubt one of the most photographed and documented 7 year old beings roaming this planet.

Since the very first moment he opened his eyes to view these strange things standing before him (captured by my lens above), he has been my favorite subject and muse…

For me it’s more than a parent who loves to photograph his child (there is that too of course). I love his essence and depth, I feel I am before a very old soul and you can see it in his eyes and his gaze… He is a truly miracle baby, but that’s another story for another time.

Photographing him comes easy and seamlessly as we connect in this way like no other… My ex-wife (his mother) ask’s me how “I do it?”, to which I don’t have an answer… we just DO, it’s an unsaid understanding between the two of us… I look forward to many more years of his “Presence” and this collective art of ours.  ❤️ 📷 🤓

“Summer Memories…” 2017

Wandering Eyes Dispatch 5: San Francisco ~ Mission District

“Marlon” ~ SF, 2017

“Marlon” ~ SF, 2017

Meet Marlon… He’s one cool cat living on these Streets of San Francisco Mission District. An ex Vet and artist who may not have much but is keeping it real with his King Cobra, a smile, a great attitude, and the ability to be here in the “now”…

I’ve been into photography since my mom bought me a Kodak 110 Insta-Matic camera back in the 70’s and encouraged me to take pictures (she would get them developed for me at the pharmacy). Since those days of my photographic infancy I’ve been into photography in a lot of different forms and formats…. Many things have changed for me along the way, but the one common constant thread for me is that I truly love to photograph people!… and capturing the essence of that person for me is the definition of success in a photographic image.

Street photography and portraiture is for me the most zen way of being present in the “now” like nothing else… Slowing down, observing everything, waiting and watching for moments… and maybe just maybe if we’re lucky capturing that very essence of humans and humanity.

I’m Gustavo, and I’m an introvert… But getting out there on the streets, approaching, and photographing strangers and humanity in general is teaching me to think more outside my box, to come out of that net of safety and anonymity… To be more open, more confident, more present, and more here “NOW”…

Technical stuff… Fuji Xpro2, Fujinon 35mm XF f2 WR lens, Shot at 1/350th of a second at f11 @1600 ISO. Lighting was clear, sunny natural ambient lighting.

 

Wandering Eyes Dispatch 4: Berlin ~ Mitte

“Schöner Berliner”          Berlin ~ Mitte, 2017

 

 

What you think to be a Calvin Klein or an Olga Tamakhina advert… Is in actuality just another beautiful Berliner looking forlorn and lost who fell prey to my camera.

I recently was in Berlin for an Eric Kim workshop and we were out shooting for the day when I happened upon this scene (which I liked). I decided to try a nice trick Eric showed us which is getting low when out doing candid pics… It works, for some reason people don’t even give you a second thought when you are well below them and just go about their business. This allowed me to snap several frames without even being given a second look. Try it next time you’re out shooting… Not only does it make you even more non-threatening, but also gives you some different compositional angles,

Technical stuff…Fujifilm Xpro2, fujinon 50mm XF f2.0 WR lens Shot at 1/420th of a second at f7.1 @1600 ISO. Lighting was overcast natural ambient lighting.

Wandering Eyes, Dispatch 3~Paris Metro

     “she waits…” Metro, Paris ~Nov 2017

 

​I found the metro in Paris to be an amazing bountiful place for candid and street photography, and there is such a wealth of visual stimuli going on around every corner!

One of my favorites was shooting from across platforms, people were pretty involved in watching and waiting for their trains that they were totally oblivious to my presence. So I got so do my voyeur thing quite anonymously and efficiently, as they posed so perfectly for my camera.

I noticed (this trip in particular) that people in Europe don’t really try and make eye contact on public transportation with strangers or try and start a conversation with you like folks in the USA would, this definitely makes taking candid portraits a lot easier… Which in turn makes my fly on the wall style photography so much more effective!

Technical stuff: Fujifilm X-Pro2, 50mm XF f2 R WR lens, 1/250th of a second @ f2 shot at 2500 ISO

Wandering Eyes ~Dispatch, Istanbul Turkey

Gypsy children~ Istanbul, Turkey

 

So my second blog entry begins with this adorable gipsy child I met outside the Blue Mosque, her and her siblings were working the tourist outside. They saw me and after realizing I wasn’t going to fold to their routine they became fascinated by my gear and really got into hamming it up for the camera. This is one image of many I shot, and my favorite…
Technical stuff :
Shot with Fuji Xpro2, with Fujinon 18mm f2 prime lens… 200 ISO, 1/240th sec @ f5.6

…post script, I did give them some money in the end 🤷🏽‍♂️