9:04AM 10/21/09, French Breakfast Radishes in Union Square Market

Some things look completely different from different angles. You wouldn’t expect that from French breakfast radishes since they’re more or less symmetrical and, unless you’re a radish, can tell the difference. So, here are two shots, taken less than two minutes apart. Diffused sunlight through the vendor’s white tent fabric and shot from this camera angle (Originally shot from the side and flipped 90º), this capture feels soft and nurturing.

This shot (below), however, I captured from the top of the stack (I flipped this upside down – clever me) and the radishes cast a shadow on themselves. A totally different feeling: dramatic, almost threatening in a scary movie kind of way. Alien. I like the top shot for the one radish rising about the crowd. I like the bottom shot for the drama of the tangled white roots rising against the receding shadow and gray pavement of Union Square.

9:06AM, 10/21/2009 French Breakfast Radishes Alternate in Union Square Market

Why so different? It must be the light. Or maybe it’s the camera angle. Then again, if I’d not turned them, would they have been as visually compelling? Maybe not, as I passed these over at least three times in my editing before taking on a different perspective. Simply shooting from the hip is not always enough to get to an interesting shot.

Sometimes you have to stand on your head (metaphorically) to make things interesting.