Techically, a Creative Transformation
By Will Mederski
5 Feb 2009
So I was wanting to photograph more people.
Good, right?
I've done lots of macro work, easy.
Made some good landscapes, lighting's always a clincher for that one.
But I wanted to catch people.
My problems were thus:
I wanted to "catch them in the act." I have a strong distaste for posed photos.
I was a little intimidated to just start clickin' away at people, I don't know what I was expecting them to do... yell at me?
At first I wandered around the streets during rush hours. Watching people.
I was looking for certain things.
I would find really nice lighting, and just wait.
Watching how the lighting would change.
But I wasn't just waiting for anyone.
I was looking for people who had something to say with themselves.
Then came the hard part: Asking people if I could take their photograph.
20 minutes would pass with me seeing one or two people I would have liked to photograph, but I would just stare at them. A little awkward.
I finally got the courage to ask, I mean what's the worst thing they could do, say "no."
And they did. All two people I actually had the balls to ask...
I did that for a few days. Mostly just scouting out good lighting spots, and getting some weird looks from security.
I did a little work, and found out that you are completely free to photograph anyone you want, so long as you and they are in public space.
Ok, so I knew that there was no legal restriction barring me now.
Just the guts to actually DO it.
--Aside: During this little project, I happen to dig my old Nikkormat 35mm FT2 out of the closet. I had probably taken 1000 photographs with this brick-of-a-camera in my first 2 years of analog photography. But hadn't touched it for at least 5 years.
I popped in a roll of Kodak B&W 125. I would do the test, analog vs. digital.
This series was done with that camera and that roll.--
So, back to the story.
I decided to take my adventure in people-pictures onto the subway.
Where better, I thought, than people trapped in a small box!
It was a perfect lesson in something Ansel Adams was emphatic about: You must "know" an environment before you can fully utilize it to communicate whatever it is you are thinking.
In other words, you have to be very patient. You think you found a good landscape? Sit down and watch it for a day. Watch how the light changes. How the different parts of the composition change their relationship to each-other.
Even better, watch it for a multiple seasons!
You like that tree, and the way it contrasts with the dark hills behind it? What would it look like in spring? In fall? Color or B&W? What would it look like if the Sun was lighting this side of the hill?
If you really want to create, if you really want to compose, you can not just shoot and hope for the best.
A good example of this is the classic "traveling photographer."
The guy who runs around the world taking photos with his camera(s) set to Auto, rushing past the beauty. What, are you just hoping that everything will just happen to coincide perfectly. Lighting. Perspective. Season.
Buddy, go to the park down the street and sit down. Wait. Watch.
Ask yourself "What do I what to communicate? What do I have to work with? And how am I doing to do it?"
(Re: previous post quoting Ansel Adams)
So I went into the subway.
I rode it everyday. I knew some of the basics:
I had one stop before the train entered the tunnel. That changes the lighting dramatically, from the sharp horizontal rays of the morning sun, to soft defused fluorescent. This changes the shutter speed/aperture options.
I know that in winter, the sun is rising around 7:30am, and depending on the weather I could have a soft blue light from cloud cover, or a very defined direct light source from the warm sun.
In those conditions, I had to fiddle around with the setting a bit more.
But once in the tunnel, stuck with the fluorescent, I quickly figured out that f4 @ 1/30 was a universal for the tones I was looking for.
After determining what I had to work with technically, I was now again at the hard part:
Taking photos of humans, without causing too much disturbance.
The classic Heisenberg paradox...
I just started taking them.
Ha. That was easier than I thought!
So, with all that as context, you can look through the series of photos.
I tried to write briefly what I was going for and what I learned under each photo.
Enjoy!
5 responses
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Martin E. Morris gave props (5 Feb 2009):
Excellent and educational story,backed up with some interesting images!!! Voted !!!
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Dirk HR Spennemann gave props (6 Feb 2009):
But at least here in Australia you'll need a model release form if you want to exhibit your work in galleries...and publishers can also also for them...(not an issue if people aren't recgniisable) the there is an issue of candid photography...unless of course the people are a large and amorphous group of people
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Laura Lighty gave props (7 Feb 2009):
Quite an interesting story. I like it! And great photos by the way! :)
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Ebla Maleh gave props (22 Feb 2009):
well told story and interesting captures. I like the part where you say be patient and watch...
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Alex Dudley gave props (16 Apr 2009):
im diggin this. i love how you studied your subject and got a better understanding of it before you began to shoot. marvelous advice and work.
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