Key Notes

When I do these blogs….many times I do these for ‘myself’ as opposed for others. I use these blogs as one approach to note taking. What am I doing right or wrong or why isn’t something working etc.

For instance….I was working on a recent book/zone project where I was going thru some of my past images and attempting to make a narrative from them…a visual form of an essay. But it wasn’t working. I was telling Deb just this morning that ‘it isn’t working’….and then I proceeded to create a list of 5-6 things as to why it wasn’t working. Then I mulled around with it once more thinking I could make the project work and no, it didn’t. Then I mulled a bit more and finally it occurred to me why it wasn’t working. And yes, it goes back to the way I shoot, the look I want…what and how I shot yesterday compared to today etc….

This is what I came up with. In order for my images to work and my overall workflow to be successful I need to make sure I hit upon ‘my basics’…or the thing that motivates me. Not what I hear from You Tube or know from other great photographer, but from me. What do I require.

First….when I go out shooting….I go out with a purpose now. No longer just shooting but a purpose in mind. So that really curtails the number of shots I take (film usually but digital is okay). I have a purpose and I seek to find that within my images. That is essential as I enjoy putting together zines and books that represent the central theme.

Second….I want the following in my images. I want movement. But, what is movement? I had to define that. Movement to me can be actual movement as in someone walking or running. But movement can also be action within what that person is seen as doing or represented as doing. So…take a look at these two images below.

Is this movement in the traditional sense? No…but what action is being presented here is movement. It shows this lady who is reflecting upon an image and caught within two separate images, not quite mirror of each other since I stepped back and shot in a refocus. But, the movement or action here is represented in her ‘reflecting’ and wondering to herself about this painting. Movement. Now take a look at the second image below.

This one is shot from behind the person as they walk down a narrow alley. Traditionally this might be thought of as movement but not in my eyes. The act of moving is caught by having his head turn back to me and look at me. That is movement. He is responding…acting….reflecting on ‘what I am doing’ as I take a shot of his movement. That is movement

In goes on and on….as to what qualifies but it has to have my definition of movement. A question that comes up after the fact about the image just taken.

Third…I want visual impact. If I take a nano-second to look at an image…does it create an impact within the viewer that stirs them? Does it make them go Wow?…If not….I don’t have a good picture. This impact can be done in several ways but many times, if not all it is accomplished by the shadows, light….and most of all geometry of the two as they play against each other. Okay, take a look below. What do you see initially? Do you like it?

Look at this one time and do so quickly. Like it or not? I think you will. Then look at it more thoroughly. Look at the shadows below…the harsh light above as it masks whatever he is pointing to (movement) on the table as the other guy looks on wondering (movement). Look at the angle of the table….the pole above the shoulders of the waiter etc… All off center. Angles….angles…. together with shadows and light. A great visual image from the start.

So….that is what I finally came down to today. What works…what doesn’t and why and why isn’t my current project not working? Because it lacks all three components to a degree. Theme, movement and impact.

journaling

I like project photography….as evident by a few blogs uploaded. To compliment that I want to addressing the concept of ‘journaling’… It is a simple process but one that adds to your overall result.

In life….we meander, don’t we? Today we do ‘this’, yesterday we did ‘that’….two weeks or a month or 6 months ago we did ‘this and that’…. It all adds up, but usually our ‘this’s and that’s ‘ run together and we forget what we did. Like a snake crawling in the grass, we meander, we eventually get someplace but in the process we fail to record in images alone; the big picture.

That is where journaling comes into play. I started to journal about my photography 8-9 years ago when I was leading a group of birders into the jungles of Ecuador to bird. I journaled where we were, what Tom saw, or how Pete tripped on a log etc . Since that adventure, and not so soon after, I began the journaling process for my street photography.

So what is in the box? I journal about the mechanics, the light….what I captured and where. I journal about my thoughts and what worked or what I needed to return to. I journal about my reflections too. For you see, since I enjoy social documentary and I couple it with photo-projects, my journals become one element to the finished product. I carry around a small notebook and make a point to record the day. When my images come to life, not only do they speak to the event recorded on the negative but the journal adds a new dimension to how that shot was taken and why.

I enjoy it….

My evolution

Sometimes it is helpful to just step back and see how we have evolved as photographers….. Evolution isn’t always good/bad, but simply a new take, a new direction perhaps spurned on by something you saw, or a challenge that you want to accomplish.

When I first seriously started in my photography, I was a nature photographer and looked to capture that animal or bird and have the glint of their eyes seen in my images. But with the advent of larger lens, and camera’s with AI type elements, the actual act of photography became relatively easy. Yes, the composition or capture of the animal was needed, but some of the challenge disappeared. I was beginning to see others capture the same with little knowledge or skill, simply technology.

So I shifted, as a distant, almost hidden challenge within me was occurring simultaneously…to that of capturing the elusive ‘human’. Hence…..street photography over-powered me and where I remain today.

At first, I was relatively into ‘faces’…oddities…..the decisive moment as Henri Cartier Bresson put forth. Yet I needed more and found the works of Deido Moriyama and Takuma Nakahira. I loved the combination of ‘digital and analog’ as their work showcased. It wasn’t about just capturing the moment, but more capturing the ‘Art’ found in the streets. I turned from less of an emphasis on humans and more on the angles, geometry….. Then came Fan Ho, who I still love….. beautiful….artistic, mysterious….filmish….

I continued to grow as a photographer…… I started looking for recent photographers and while many recent street folks are just into ‘street’….I have tried to gleam what I could from a few of their works and attempt to transfer it to mine. Now, photographers like Sean Tucker or Duane Michaels interest me. Again, not just angles and lines and geometry in the buildings but more so in the shadows, all the while to continue to downplay the humans seen in the photographs. I couldn’t care less who they ‘are’, but I know I need them. They become ‘intangibles’ to my photographs but are needed. If I look at a mailbox, it is just a mailbox, but if it is part of the scene, it belongs. Just the same as humans. No reason to showcase their faces ‘up close and person’, and ti identify or place in perfect focus, but more to showcase the humanity surrounded by the situation they find themselves in….the angles, geometry, shadows….. and light. Oh the light…. This is so valuable and to find the right light, and always on the hunt for.

I look at most street photographers and see ‘me’….but a long time ago. Now I look within and I see growth…again, not good nor bad, but growth as I put forth challenges to conquer. I am no longer happy with just an image of a person with a funny face, or strange clothes or am challenged by snapping their shot without them knowing it ….but want the whole image now to ‘come together’ as ‘one’….I want the photograph to become ‘art’ with a statement it makes, a question it forces….