Walking away

Merida, Venezuela (Dec 12, 2004)

I would like to thank everybody for leaving a comment in the previous entries. I really appreciate all your opinions, and is great to have a community able to discuss critically about photography, going beyond the “nice picture” comment. You are all great, and I feel lucky for you visiting my blog.

Today’s photo is from my last trip to Venezuela. We were driving around Merida, in the venezuelan Andes, when we stopped near the local astronomical observatory to watch the landscape. On the side of the road there was a trail going along the mountain slope between tall grasses. Mayli was a bit ahead and I took this picture while she was walking away (she is usually quite camera-shy). I normally don’t like shooting people in the back because I prefer to catch their expression (independently from the fact that they are aware or not; Nitza is having an interesting discussion about this topic on her photoblog). This time, however, I think seeing her walking away gives a sense of purpose of the shot. I know that it looks like the overused cliques of the “woman walking into the sunset”, but after admitting that the shot is not that original I still like it much more than if she was facing me (it would have risked being just another “I have been there” snapshot). The fact is that many times, when traveling, I find difficult to include my travel companions in the shots, in a way that shows them and the place without being the usual boring travel shot. What do you do in these cases?

Mayli is not very entusiast about this photo, and while I like some aspects of it, and mainly the way she is framed by the grass, is not among the ones I prefer from that trip. But still I think can be a good subject of discussion...