Faces, Not Places! At the National Sculpture Garden

When you travel, you like to come back with images not just of the monuments, historic buildings and landscapes, but also the faces that you see. After all, people are the lifeblood of any country.

But how do you DO that, especially with people you do not know? Sticking a camera in a stranger’s face is NOT a great way to make friends! It’s intrusive and inconsiderate! And how do you capture those magic moments of your own family or friends playing on the beach, or sampling local restaurants, dancing the carioca, screaming down a roller coaster, or just enjoying themselves on a hillside above a lovely nighttime cityscape?

This new photo safari, led by professional event photographer and Washington Photo Safari director E. David Luria will give you very useful tips on how (and how not ) to take posed and unposed photos of the people you know, how to capture candid moments of people you do NOT know in crowded marketplaces or on street scenes, how to get in LOW and CLOSE to your subjects, how to use Shutter-Priority and Aperture-Priority modes, how to manipulate those confusing F-stops.

You will learn that it is NOT easy to be a spy!

He will also discuss what kind of equipment you need to do this right, how to use long lenses to get in tight on faraway faces, how to use non-intrusive spy-like techniques to capture that unique face, how to use wide angle lenses to increase depth of field, how to take full advantage of light and the rapid-shooting capability of your camera, how to get the permission of strangers to take their pictures, and how to shoot in low-light environments, in short: how to take pictures that really tell the PEOPLE story of your trip!

He will also review privacy and model-release issues involved in photographing strangers.

Mr. Luria conducts this safari at one of the best people-gathering places in Washington: the friendly National Sculpture Garden located at 7th and Constitution Ave NW, a great place to pose friends and family and an easy place to meet strangers who often bring their cute little kids to stick their feet in the circular pond. He begins the safari with a 40-minute orientation on people photography, and then works with all participants to help them get the most interesting photos, with techniques of exposure, composition, lighting and white balance.

Any camera will do for this safari, even those small and quiet point and shoots with nice long zooms, but for best results we highly recommend adjustable SLR cameras with telephoto and wide angle lenses, and, for low-light shooting, a 50 mm F1.4 or a 35 mm F1.8 lens and an auxiliary flash unit Cameras with articulating tilt and twist screens are especially useful for candid photography!

Mr. Luria, trained in Paris by a protégé of Henri Cartier Bresson, is a member of the American Society of Media Photographers, has had his images appear in over 100 publications, and he has directed the training of over 38,000 amateur photographers since 1999. He and his brother both had clandestine service experience.

What to Bring:

• Camera
  
• Lenses
• Extra memory cards
• Extra charged battery
• Accessories such as filters, remote release
• Weather appropriate clothing

Where to Meet: Meet at north side of pond at National Sculpture Garden, at 8th and Constitution Ave NW, right across from National Archives, Washington DC. Enter Gardens at 7th St. and Madison Drive NW.