Shooting the Wall, Berlin, October 2008I've been reading some more stuff on how much effort should be applied to gathering photos. Some interesting stuff particularly around snap shots. So here are a couple of broad observations:
For landscape stuff, I think photographing takes some contemplation to get the right feel. If you want good photos of great locations, a certain degree of effort is well rewarded. Even without the camera, taking time to soak up the view is worthwhile. For the stuff I take in the mountains, even just walking along snapping, I may take several minutes per shot. With the tripod and a subject I'm really interested in, that process can take half an hour (although camera time may be quite short). And yet so many I see are flying by with hardly a second glance, snap, snap, snap and on their way.
Contrast that to "street photography" (reportage if you will). Really a subject and method that lends itself to fast pace, see, frame shoot, move on. Don't dither or you'll miss stuff and waste time that could be spent on the next subject. I really enjoy photographing other people taking photographs, partly because I think it's humorous to do so, and partly because it hones my reflexes for subject and shot. If you've been reading a while, you may have seen me post some. Here's a typical sequence: I notice the camera in hand from several yards away, I close the gap, raise camera, frame, focus, snap and away. Camera-in-hand is still busy framing and fiddling.
Of course, I'm dealing in broad generalizations here but this is certainly the way I see the vast majority approach their picture taking.
Am I the only one who thinks it's odd the way others approach their photographs?
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I always imagine a duel, you see other photographer and she/he sees you. You both move around each other, raising camera to eye, composing the other with the background, bobbing up and down like a bird mating ritual, circling closer until cameras are put down and each laughs at the ridiculousness of it all.
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