Revisiting Locations

‘Revisiting Locations’, is a continuation of my previous Blog titled ‘Introduction to Working the Scene’.

Creative Photographers tell you to keep moving forward and find new places to shoot. Although this is true, it is also good to keep revisiting potential places. Trying to find a better composition, a better character or a better angle. One can also make a project of that location. Projects help us work more and substantially improve our photography journey.

One of my favorite places that I revisit when I am in Valletta on a Sunday morning is St James Church which is a Roman Catholic Church. A previous Mannerist Church was built in the 17th century and it was demolished in the 18th century to build the present baroque St James Church.

On Sunday mornings the church is used by the  Ethiopian and Eritrean Christian Communities in Malta which number around 500. Most of these are immigrants that crossed from Libya on tiny boats and were saved by Maltese authorities and now they have a life in Malta.

One day I was in Valletta doing Street Photography and I heard singing coming from somewhere. I followed the singing and I came to St James Church where the singing was coming from. When I turned the corner and came to the church the scene really amazed me. The steps to go into the church were full of all kinds of shoes. I questioned myself, ‘why are these shoes on the steps outside the church?’. This is very unusual for Malta. I went to the door and saw that a mass was going and here the scene amazed me again as all the women at the mass were dressed in their traditional clothing. This was not an opportunity to lose, so I started shooting as a headless chicken. A point to note is that this journey started in November 2010.

When I got home and uploaded the images in Lightroom on my iMac I saw that I had some good images but I wanted to hit myself as I could have done better. I said to myself that I need to go back and re-shoot this place.

Time passed and I forgot about this palace until one day on a Sunday morning I was passing this place again and it all came to me. I started shooting but this time I was more careful. Back home I saw that I had really good images. 

Now this place was in my mind and every Sunday morning that I was in Valletta I would visit this place at the time of mass to shoot. I even pass this place whenever I am in Valletta and sometimes I find a good shot. I even visited during the Covid-19 pandemic when everywhere was closed and still found a good shot to add to the story.

One Sunday morning I was in Valletta with a group of students doing a Street Photography workshop. Since I knew about this place, I took the students to this place at the time of mass. And Oh My God what a scene we found. The Ethiopians and Eritreans were singing and dancing in the street outside the church. The students immediately started shooting as they never saw a scene like this, and neither did I. 

I didn’t start shooting as I was curious about what was happening and why they were dancing and singing in the street. I pushed myself towards the front of the church as apart from the Ethiopians and Eritreans, there were a lot of tourists shooting the scene with their cameras and mobile phones. Once I got in front of the church I saw a couple dressed elegantly in their native costumes and I asked the people what was happening. I was told that a wedding ceremony was going on and this couple had just gotten married. They were celebrating their marriage and were going to the car to go on their honeymoon or wedding venue.

Now, I started shooting, going in all directions and even close to the married couple. When all was over and I regrouped the students, they all were ecstatic and very happy with what they had seen and also shot.

After this story, I knew that I have a project here, so I started a collection of images in Lightroom with my best photos of this place. I continued revisiting this place throughout the years and collecting images but I never did anything with this project which I can say that it is an ongoing one, until today I decided to use this story and project in this blog.

A good thing to point out is that when you decide to revisit a place it is a good thing to go back to your previous photos of that location and have a good look at them, so you will refresh your memory, and when you get to the scene you try to find different compositions, and better angles and most importantly you do better than your previous visits. Always try to be more creative.