Alex Thebez: Malcolm, Bellport, New York

The Image

Photographer:
Alex Thebez

Location:
Bellport, New York. United States

Time / Date:
12:44 PM / August 31st, 2013

The Technical

Gear:
Camera Body: Sony RX100
Lens: Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* f/1.8 Lens

Camera Settings:

Shutter Speed: 1/125s
Aperture: f/4.9
ISO: 200
Focal Length: 37.1mm

The Story

Background: 

I shoot images from my personal life all the time, as an ongoing body of work, in addition to my other projects. The camera helps to mitigate my social anxiety, especially in situations that are foreign to me.! ! In the picture is my boyfriend Malcolm. It was our first weekend away together. We were invited by Malcolm’s friend to stay in this beautiful house in Bellport, Long Island. I was rather anxious about meeting Malcolm’s very smart, accomplished friends. My acute shyness also added extra nerves to the idea of spending a weekend away with a group of strangers.

The Scene: 

The quietness of the day was kind of overwhelming, in a good way. I hadn’t been anywhere that quiet in a while.

Gear: 

I go everywhere with my cameras. I tend to alternate between a Contax G2, a Yashica T4 and the Sony RX-100. I prefer things that are light and unintrusive. Smaller cameras get ignored in most social situations and allow people that I’m with to be less guarded in our interactions.! ! I only had my Sony RX-100 that weekend, and I had ran out of negatives, which I forgot to pick up before the trip.

Making the Shot:

Honestly, in cases like this one, everything is pretty intuitive. I did not have a clear image in mind, just a feeling and that weird indescribable urge to take a photograph. I was just watching Malcolm and his roommate Emma, who came with us on the trip, walk to the pool. I noticed how ! great the light looked and just started taking a couple of pictures.

Editing & Processing:

I do pretty minimal editing on my diary images. Mostly just a touch of white balancing and curving in Lightroom, so it would look consistent with my style and other images in the set. I like things to look pretty natural for the most part.

Looking Back:

I was hitting a bit of a slump at the time. I was unhappy with most of my pictures and found it very difficult to get back into taking photographs consistently in my everyday life. The picture felt almost like a turning point of me rediscovering the pleasure of taking diaristic photographs.

Advice:

Trust your gut, and if you think you see a picture, take it. Don’t worry too much about gear. Shoot with what you are comfortable with because in the end a great picture is a great picture no matter what kind of camera you shoot with.

Inspiration:

Nothing specifically for this image. But I love the works of Martin Parr, Motoyuki Daifuku, Yoshinori Mizutani and Daido Moriyama, among others. Nguan, is also like my hero.

I just want to take pictures.

About the Photographer

Alex Thebez is an Indonesian photographer currently based in New York. Alex’s passion for storytelling drives him to portray narratives and imagery through various mediums. Alex is particularly interested in the mundane and everyday. Alex also makes GIFs with the GIFRIENDS collective. Alex also help run and contribute to Lintroller, a photography blogazine. Alex loves video games and ramen. You can follow his photo diary on his Tumblr.

Website: www.alexthebez.com
GIFriends: www.giftedtogether.com
Tumblr: http://alexthebez.tumblr.com