Have courage

I've always liked a good photograph --I've even been awed and moved by them-- but I've never really understood the photography that goes into shooting a good photo. Everything that I snap that's remotely good is pure luck.

Just the other day, I was talking to Pyl, a French graphic designer who's recently got into shooting pictures and video, who's doing a movie here in Oecusse for EDC, an American NGO.

He's a good teacher and speaks about the subject very well for someone who's only been at it for a year or so.

I learned a lot of things about photography that I had never understood before and with it I found an appreciation for photography as a craft in and of itself.

Pyl showed me some awesome examples of what you can do with very simple cameras. To make short of it, photography is about balancing just three things: shutter speed, aperature, and sensitivity (also known as ISO. you can buy film in different sensitivity, but with a digital camera you can set it with the touch of a button).

All there is to photography is being able to use these three things to create the effects and lighting you desire.

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The real lesson I learnt from him is how to be a good photographer. This, he in turn learned from a friend who used to do shoot photos for the UN. The whole trick is courage.

Counter to all intuition, you'll get better photos in most situations by being open and forward with the camera than trying to conceal it. A fair number of people don't mind being in photos, and others often forget that you have a camera with you if you sit with them for long enough. This allows you to get really natural shots of families working in the fields or sitting at home.

Also, your body language is much more natural and unsuspicious when you're not trying to conceal a camera. You might also be more likely to annoy people if they figure out you're trying to take photos without them finding out.

It's also possible to tell from peoples' body language whether they will be alright if you walked up to them and BOF! (French for "pow!") took a picture inches from their face.

Chances are, if they aren't comfortable, they won't even let you get close. Chances are, if you smile, you can get away with it (almost anything, really).

Also, a really good bet to fall back on is to ask: "bele sai foto?" Sometimes, it pays to be more aggressive: "sai foto, ya? okay obrigado!" The important part is being clear about what you want.

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I spent last saturday morning on the road with Camilo, who works at FEEO. I took some photos from the back of his motorbike as we rolled on bumpy Oecusse roads.

We visited the welding shop to hurry them on the jobs we're having them do, and we drove around a bit, and bought some corn from the nicest old lady I've ever met (to use when we learned how to make corn shellers).

Alas! I was too shy and mentally tied up in the things that we had to do that I forgot to get good pictures of the two most important things: the nicest old lady ever, and Camilo. I didn't really get any good photos that day.

I promise I won't disappoint next time. I wrote you a haiku to make up for it. (scroll down)