The streets of downtown Vancouver, well any city really, are a wonderful source of some very interesting photographs. This gentleman was doing chalk/pastel art on the sidewalk. At first I was so enamoured with what he was doing that I was mainly taking photographs of his art work. But yesterday as I was going through my edits of this shoot I realized that the better, the more compelling, human photograph was one that focused directly on the artist. There was an intensity in his face and a light touch in his fingers as he worked his art. Editing, selecting your best pictures out of your good pictures is a huge part of the becoming a good photographer. The picture at left is the picture I chose first and eventually rejected as the best in this lot. Let me know if you think I’ve made a mistake. I really like the fact that this image is at eye level with the artist, I had to watch for traffic, get out in the street, squat down low and grab the image. The only thing I am unhappy with in this frame is the over-exposed skin of the woman to the artist’s right. It is too bright and distracting.
-Russell Berg