{"id":6309,"date":"2012-04-03T08:28:33","date_gmt":"2012-04-03T15:28:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/?p=6309"},"modified":"2012-04-03T08:33:35","modified_gmt":"2012-04-03T15:33:35","slug":"building-a-visual-language-the-cinematic-street-photographs-of-mike-avina","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/2012\/04\/03\/building-a-visual-language-the-cinematic-street-photographs-of-mike-avina\/","title":{"rendered":"Building a Visual Language: The Cinematic Street Photographs of Mike Avi\u00c3\u00b1a"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Mike<\/a><\/p>\n

Eric’s Note<\/strong><\/span>: This week I am pleased to share the work of Mike Avi\u00c3\u00b1a<\/a>, a street photographer based in Northern California. His images have a strong film noir style, and\u00c2\u00a0exuberant\u00c2\u00a0swagger. Check out his thoughts about his work and images below.<\/p>\n

Mike<\/strong>: I like taking pictures, obviously. I think it is rooted in some sort of drive to capture and freeze reality and hold on to a piece of time\u00e2\u20ac\u201dprobably ultimately not a healthy instinct but if it is channeled well maybe I can make some strong images. These thin little slices of time we get in pictures are difficult but the shots that work are sort of like gasoline on the fire. I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really explain it more than that.<\/p>\n

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\"Mike<\/p>\n

The hardest thing is balancing the one or two kinds of riffs I really like (environmental and street portraits) with the slow process of building a full visual language sufficient for long term projects and coherent photo essays. I constantly work at both; expanding my tool kit and sharpening the one or two kinds of approaches I really like. I engage people a lot and talk to them\u00e2\u20ac\u201dbut I also shoot more candid photos. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s important to be able to do both but the distinction isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t that interesting to me. Unless you are hiding in the bushes or using a spy camera I think there is an element of performance for almost all street photos. I wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t go so far as staging images, but the cinematic quality of the street interests me.<\/p>\n

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Slideshow<\/h2>\n

Below is a video slideshow\u00c2\u00a0of shots captured on BART and other mass transit in Northern California in 2010 and 2011.<\/p>\n