4am

"At 4 in the morning Photography takes on
a new meaning"

Paulo Menezes (year1)

Sent via OUR BlackBerry's from Cyberspace- let our emails find you!

  I checked 'recent updates' on my bbm @ about 6am this morning. The quote above was Paulo Menezes's status. It caught my attention _ especially the 'new meaning' part, so I asked Paulo to share his experience with me via email/bb so that I could share it with you.

• 

 This is what Paulo wrote about 'new meaning': 

building 1

building 2

"Well, every time I shoot at sunrise (which should be more frequent) its a surreal experience. The rate at which light changes and the changes it brings about on the subjects is amazing. I think I was also grabbed by the nature of the building -how IT, as well as the light had the power to span/transport one back to previous architectural era's (see above).  I would say that my bbm status was mainly based on me witnessing the transition between 3am and 6am, between which a series of images were captured, and how this change is not merely a time lapse but potentially a laps through time itself.

Here is PM's Blurb about his 'experience' and 'thinking': 

"Yesterday I tagged along with my mom to Umhlanga in search of a 'photograph-able' building for the 'Architecture' part of my portfolio. Prior to this, I had had no luck in the Durban area - I found it very cramped and couldn't seem to find a suitable vantage point to correctly photograph a building, which is a pity 'cuz Durban has really beautiful structures (I think I need to further develop my skill in this department). So, I headed to Umhlanga with a modern building in mind (either Coastlands Hotel or one of the many office buildings in the area). 

building 3

 As I did not plan this trip (my mom had to drop off a document to clients in the area), I found myself setting up my tripod at 12 o' clock, not ideal as the sun had just come out of it's week-long hiding and was very harsh. This made exposure very difficult, with either silhouetted buildings or over-exposed skies. On the way back, we passed the Moses Mabhida stadium. I saw a small building on the outer fields surrounding the stadium which caught my eye... Which brings me to this morning (excuse the extensive intro). SO, I had planned to get up at about 5/5:30am - forgetting that summer is here and the sun rises much earlier. Luckily I had visited WeatherSA last night, after which I found myself setting my alarm clock to 3:45am (uncharted territory for both me and my bedside clock). I headed down to the stadium and got there at about 4:30am this morning. The sun hadn't risen yet but it was still fairly bright. I got to the building that I had seen and set up. It was a short wait for the first light to fall on the glass front at about 4:45/50'ish. And...well, the rest of the story lies in the images..


Attached:
1 - The building, just below the south end of the stadium.
2 - I altered the colours slightly to enhance a feeling of 'The Great Gatsby' or '1970's New York' that I immediately felt as I framed the shot through the viewfinder (I hope I have the right era).
3 - I couldn't help swivelling my tripod head toward the stadium as it takes on a pink tint for a few minutes of the day.

•

see more of PM's images on his blog_ click below

buka lapha

☕