He sits not far from the Jaffa Gate in Israel each day, smoking his cigarettes and watching people walk past through eyes dimmed by time. It’s been seven years since I’ve seen him and though we never spoke a word to one another, his face is etched into my memory. His foldout stool, is covered in fabric I could imaged being Joseph’s coat of many colors. Behind him, on the edge of the wall, is his collection of cigarette butts for the day.
Story lines run down his face reminding me of land eroded by rain and time. As best as I could tell, the stubble on his face seemed little more than a week old and by the odor coming from him, it was possibly the last time he bathed and shaved. I wondered how difficult it might be to shave the small hairs from the deep crevices in his face.
The burning ember dangling from a calloused hand makes a rolling gesture, beginning at his forehead, then out toward our group. His yellowed mustache mumbles words I’ve never heard, “boker tov. A young man from our group replies, “boker or.” Later I was told the exchange was, “Good morning,” and the reply, “morning full of light.”
Looking down at my shoes is the only way I’m able to turn my stare away from him. He fascinates me, and I want to ask him about his life. I want to hear his stories that are traveling down his cheeks and into his turtleneck sweater. We walk a few yards down the sidewalk from him and I glance back, only to see the back of his gray and white cap walking into a door.
I loved this shot as soon as I took it. In the view window I could feel his character coming through the lense. Later that night, as I scrolled through my pictures on my computer, I realized it was not a clean shot. It had blurred it.
Since then, I have learned to always take many shots of the same scene. It’s a digital camera and not film. So take as many pictures as you can! Someone might blink, or move, or you might move, blurring the picture. Always try to double check as you are shooting and then shoot some more!
I did, however, find a way to redeem the picture. I changed it to a B & W (Black and White.)
When you change a blurred picture to a B & W there are a few tricks you can use to try to even out the blur.
One tricks is to bump up the contrast. Play with the contrast slider back and forth to see what you get. Take it too far left, and too far right, then, find your sweet spot.
Another trick is to add a filter. Here I have added a sepia tone filter. Which one do you like better; B & W or Sepia?
Okay, Let’s have some fun! Show me what you’ve got!
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I like the sepia. It adds an earthly dimension to the stones and just seems to fit the scene. I like to ask questions {in my mind} about the people I see, too. Sketch short history’s about them, etc. Yours is such a neat story. Thanks for sharing!
June, I like sepia too. To me, the golden tones make me feel like I’m seeing a memory. Thank you for coming by! Hope to see you here again!
I see the stories, too. I wonder… I like the black and white.
The photos I added to today’s blog post were muddied when I tried the auto fix. So I played with them by messing with the brightness… and then the exposure until the background went all white. Then I messed with the color and contrast. I liked the green corn leaves against the white background. The corners were still a little muddy, so I cropped the edges. And then I slid the saturation all the way to the left to get the black and white. I liked it best.
Good job Sandy. I like what you have done! Thank you for sharing!
What a blessing to see you again and to see how your heart is opening and around and about to others. You are a treat! Thanks.
HI Joanne! Good to hear from you!
I like the black and white, Diane. I never would have thought of using black and white or sepia to “fix” a photo.
I’m of that age group that remembers using film–how I rationed the photos! I still have to remind myself that now I can take lots of shots.
Constance, I love B/W too. I remember seeing the pictures from my mother and they were all B/w! My how things have changed.