Colors

So as I'd mentioned, this week, Rob's given us all individual assignments to work on. He gave us projects that he thought would challenge us a bit. Mine was color. It sounds a lot easier than it actually is. I've already posted some pictures I've taken for the assignment, so feel free to check them out. Our crit is tomorrow, so hopefully everyone else likes them too. Color is kind of a foreign thing for me to focus on, but as a whole, I actually enjoyed the challenge.

Shooting in Cairo has become a bit more challenging than I thought. Shooting on Zamalek, the island we're staying on, has been fine, but there's only so much to photograph there. We've been told not to shoot in the neighborhood around our classroom anymore, since apparently some of the locals have taken notice and aren't okay with it. I can understand that there are some people that aren't okay with being photographed, but we've used the utmost discretion and respect when photographing our subjects. Anyone that shows the slightest sign they don't want to be photographed, we leave alone. What upsets me about the situation is mostly the way we were approached. Our trip's coordinator made it seem like we were being distasteful and disrespectful towards the people, and she was somewhat condescending in the way she approached us. She also doesn't understand much about photography or its ethics. No matter where you shoot, someone's going to be bothered or offended. All we can do is be as respectful as possible. It's somewhat impossible, though, to know about every instance where we're offending someone. But the fact of the matter is that we're here to take a class in photography, and we need material to shoot. We've been told we can take the vans elsewhere during class, but no matter where we go, we're going to offend someone at some point. I guess the idea behind that is that if we offend someone, there won't be direct feedback. I guess my frustration comes from people having a lack of understanding of photography as a whole and how we, as photographers, have been behaving. I guess the bright side is that it'll be nice to be able to take the vans and spend some time in class shooting.

Here's another photo of a cat, since Rob loves cats.