Street photography or not street photography

“Time and patience are essential in street photography. One has to walk a lot, and, sometimes, one has to wait for the photograph to happen. In some cases, the photographer will wait until a subject enters a chosen stage–the foreseen composition.”

Magnum photos [2019]

Reading through this article, I found this statement to sum up aspects of my experience in taking the shots for assignment 3. In most of the shots that made the final set I visualised the photo i wanted first, set it up and waited for it to happen. Some more successful than others of course but as a strategy to take the shots it was enjoyable.

From this article I discovered Susan Meiselas and her photographs from Nicaragua in the 1970’s interesting and powerful. https://www.magnumphotos.com/photographer/susan-meiselas/

Images of conflict situations are often very powerful, transport the viewer right there to the scene even decades later. “A car of a Samoza informer burning in Managua” is particularly moving.

Susan Meiselas is not considered a street phitographer by Magnum yet is considered to have produced street photographs of the highest order. “Hence, some Magnum photographers who might not be considered “street photographers” happen to have made street photographs of the highest order.”

What makes street photography is ubiquitous and in this way many artists can create without dedication to the style, perhaps.

Bibliography

Magnum photos. 2019. The joy of seeing magnum street photography. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.magnumphotos.com/theory-and-practice/the-joy-of-seeing-magnum-street-photography/. [Accessed 28 May 2019].

Reworking assignment 3

A couple of pieces of feedback from my tutor on assignment 3 has led me to look at some rework on the assignment. I have not resubmitted assignment 3 however I may consider for final submission to OCA.

The series wrks better as photobook and in monochrome. I was very close to submitting in monochrome as I do believe there is greater consistency and in some cases more powerful images.
Images 3 & 4 are the weakest and would improve from a wider framing. I think I agree with this and fortunately I had some leeway on the original photographs allowing the creation of a wider frame.

The reworked series in photobook form:-

The reworked images :-

Assignment 3 : Reflection

Assessment criteria

Demonstration of technical and visual skills

Materials, techniques, observational skills, visual awareness, design and compositional skills.

I believe the series represents a progression in technical and visual skills in relation to street photography over the street shots in assignment 1 – The square mile.

Composition was a very important part of in successfully expressing the vision I had for this assignment along with choice of aperture and focal length. All were carefully thought out for the successful photographs in this series.

Quality of outcome

Content, application of knowledge, presentation of work in a coherent manner, discernment, conceptualisation of thoughts, communication of ideas.

I believe that I have successfully conveyed my vision and communicated the idea behind this assignment, a relatively simple message which I believe is clearly expressed through the series. I do not believe that any of the individual shots are particularly successful however collectively they work to evoke the impression I was looking for. Much like the core inspiration for the series, where individually the photographs do not make much sense however collectively convey a strong message.

Presentation with an accompanying poem I believe adds to the series and also as photobook (in video) helps communication of the idea for the series.

Discernment shown through the similarity in look and in body language in the selected photographs, I found myself spending more time than I normally would to take the specific shot I wanted, waiting for the right moment. In this way I was discerning even before taking the shot. This idea came from specific feedback from my tutor on assignment 2 where we discussed trying to reduce the number of shots taken. The aim being to increase the number of good shots over rejected shots. I found the exercise interesting and enjoyable.

Demonstration of creativity

Imagination, experimentation, invention.

Perhaps the series I decided not to present demonstrates more imagination, experimentation and invention. There is some imagination and invention in visualising the message I wanted to convey and what this may look like before I went out to take the shots and create the photographs.

Again the series I have chosen not to present holds perhaps a greater degree of experimentation. I found the series presented to not require a lot of experimentation, I had a clear idea and strong sense of what would work. This is probably represented in the relatively low number of photographs on the contact sheet.

Context

Reflection, research, critical thinking.

Street photography is not an area I have spent much of my time doing over the past few years. I, much like many people I believe am inherently uncomfortable taking pictures of people without their permission. That said it is an area I am interested in progressing for myself and found that I became more comfortable as I progressed through assignment.

My idea itself demonstrates critical thinking where I considered Colin Pantall’s review of Paul Graham The Present and challenge one of the core messages with the series. Other than the challenge I attempted to in many ways to emulate the work. In this way I hope the challenge I present comes through clearly.

I found the book – On composition and improvisation by Larry Fink to be very influential in my composition selections for the series.

Assignment 3: The (in)decisive moment

Brief

Create a set of between six and ten finished images on the theme of the decisive moment. You may choose to create imagery that supports the tradition of the ‘decisive moment’ or you may choose to question or invert the concept by presenting a series of ‘indecisive’ moments. Your aim isn’t to tell a story, but in order to work naturally as a series there should be a linking theme, whether it’s a location, event or particular period of time.

Include a written introduction to your work of between 500 and 1000 words outlining your initial ideas and subsequent development. You’ll need to contextualise your response with photographers that you’ve looked at, and don’t forget to reference the reading that you’ve done.

Introduction

During this assignment I had two themes which I worked with in parallel only deciding very late which I wanted to go forward with and present here.

The theme which I have not brought forward asks the question, what would the decisive moment be if those moments are 1/2s long? This theme is connected to a deep interest I have in physics and the concept of time and now. How this time is connected with matter and energy revealing reality to us at the speed of light. All visual arts and especially photography has these concepts as bedrock. I was very lucky to come across a phenomenon when shooting seagulls at 400ms, these cease to look like seagull’s or even material and start to resemble energy waves. I created a number of abstract images which appear on the contact sheet for the assignment. I investigated Wolgang Tillman’s abstract work and found some similarities and inspiration. Ultimately I could not find a strong enough link to the brief for this assignment. I may however bring this idea back later in Expressing Your Vision as I find the concept and output fascinating.

Inspiration for the theme of this series comes directly from The Present, the photobook by Paul Graham and from the review of this work by Colin Pantall. The images I created are both a challenge to and in some ways an endorsement of what I think about The Present. For technique and understanding of street photography and not being particularly experienced in this area I read – Larry Fink On composition and improvisation and used this for much of the technical decisions I made.

Pantall writes about The Present “It looks pretty much like any other run down place. The people are the same. They’re not glamorous or striking or eccentric, but rather they’re harried, harassed and distant;” The work contains a series of photographs of Manhattan and the people who inhabit that area of New York. For most of us we do not think of Manhattan as ‘like any other run down place’ we think of Manhattan as spectacular and exciting, evoking images of; the Empire State building, central park, the Brooklyn bridge etc Perhaps you need to look up most of the time to see Manhattan’s splendour.

The series I present here offers a point of view and comment on the effect our surroundings and environment have on us and how this can be related to the decisive moment; ‘The people are the same. They’re not glamorous or striking or eccentric, but rather they’re harried, harassed and distant’.

I read from this that Pantall means, the run down nature of the place in some way causes the people therein to be harried and harassed. I found this an interesting viewpoint and not one I fully agree with. I found this worthy of exploration for this assignment and how I could use my environment to explain why I disagree at least in part.

I live in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland which offers a very different experience and environment from Manhattan and I argue is in it’s own way compelling and interesting as well as spectacular and exciting. Looking up whilst traversing the streets of Edinburgh certainly provides for some fantastic sights as does looking up in Manhattan. Edinburgh differs though in that the wonderful architecture, statues, gardens etc are perhaps more accessible, closer and more connected with us. When walking around in the centre of Edinburgh it is actually quite impossible to avoid being surrounded by all of this splendour, it is there on every turn and in every street. I wonder also if the age of city adds something to the connection we have, which is not there in Graham’s Manhattan of 2012.

This leads me to consider that the message Paul Graham gives us in The Present, could not be shot in the centre of Edinburgh or at least would need to be drastically different in style and composition. In this series I investigate this idea. I do approached this with a preconceived viewpoint however, which is a challenge to The Present. Our environment, no matter how interesting compelling and engaging will fade from our consciousness after even a small amount of time. In this way the environment becomes meaningless to the message, The Present does not need a ‘run down place’ to support the message.

In conclusion; We are left with ‘They’re not glamorous or striking or eccentric, but rather they’re harried, harassed and distant’ and the moments are invariably indecisive, regardless of surroundings.

In the series, all shots have something of interest which could pull on the attention of the subjects the people in the photographs however they fail to grab that attention. The subjects are oblivious, they do not see what is right there and are left introverted and conscious only of themselves. Sometimes harried or harassed, possibly just relaxed but always distant and focussed inward. To express this idea I sometimes crop or set out of focus the thing of interest other times this is not necessary and the interest is right there yet still ignored. Around the subjects are buildings, statues, street performers and the castle itself.

With a mind to the photographic style of The Present;

I have used a preset in Lightroom to evoke a rich analog film feel similar to the feel found in The Present.
Some, although not all images are shot with subjects in middle distance.
A number of the images are pairs where there is little difference between one shot and another.

Presentation

Following the central inspiration for the series I considered presenting in photobook form. After some experimentation using print outs to find the best layout and sequence I created a ‘psuedo photobook’ using adobe photoshop and lightroom shown in this short video clip.

Out of the present

We walk with yesteryear Hero in our midst, this time is yet still My Time,

The Fog can oft’ descend hiding the mighty one, and too soon My time is short,

So much in My life, is only Almost seen.

We are Collectively clipped right here,

whilst Contact comes from outside, bypasses and in,

Still the stress and wail, can’t burrow through my Fascination.

The Series

Hero in our midst

ƒ/5.0 30.0 mm 1/320s ISO200

My time

ƒ/5.0 27.0 mm 1/400s ISO200

Fog

ƒ/5.6 140.0 mm 1/200s ISO400

My time is short

ƒ/5.6 140.0 mm 1/200s ISO400

My life

ƒ/5.6 70.0 mm 1/2000s ISO320

Almost seen

ƒ/5.6 70.0 mm 1/1600s ISO320

Collectively clipped

ƒ/5.6 70.0 mm 1/320s ISO100

Contact

ƒ/5.6 70.0 mm 1/640s ISO100

Stress and wail

ƒ/5.6 70.0 mm 1/500s ISO100

Fascination

ƒ/5.6 70.0 mm 1/500s ISO100

Bibliography

Pantall, Colin (2012) The Present. At: http://www.photoeye.com/magazine/reviews/2012/05_17_The_Present.cfm (accessed 28.03.2019)

Considering Nortre-Dame

Considering the disaster that has befallen Nortre-Dame Cathedral, I think a disaster for the people of Paris, France and for all of us. Just last night as the Cathedral was engulfed in flames and one of the spires collapsing the people of Paris took to the streets in collective shock and mourning and the comfort of being together to bare witness.

I think of Paul Graham’s photobook The Present as discussed here the antithesis of the decisive moment is connected to the urban experience of middle America. It is hard to think of a city or building which represents the opposite of mundane middle America. In this I see an idea forming for my assignment 3, an idea which has been brooding away at the back of my mind for a few weeks now as I have been working through the course and starting to tackle assignment 3. I live in a city which itself is very far removed from mundane middle America, Edinburgh, Scotland. Gothic and spectacular the old town of Edinburgh is but that does not stop the the moments in time experienced by it’s citizens being indecisive. For the good people of the city the gothic and the spectacular become a faded backdrop and life is simply life with all it’s mundane indecision. So the idea forms to express the juxtaposition of mundane within a spectacular context.

Of course, as shown in Paris, when in danger we will snap out of this state and recognise again our surroundings. I suspect the same would be true of any middle American town or city although without the added wrench of hundreds of years of history being torn from us.

Thankfully it looks like the cathedral will remain and shall be rebuilt to its former glory.

Exercise 3.3: What matters is to look

Brief

Find a good viewpoint, perhaps fairly high up (an upstairs window might do) where you can see a wide view or panorama. Start by looking at the things closest to you in the foreground. Then pay attention to the details in the middle distance and then the things towards the horizon. Now try and see the whole view together, from the foreground to horizon (you can move your eyes). Include the sky in your observation and try to see the whole visual field together, all in movement. When you’ve got it, raise your camera and release the shutter. Add the picture and a description of the process to your learning log.

Idea

My idea was to catch motion of bird flight ( probably seagull but possibly pigeon ) at slow shutter speed such that the motion would appear fluid. I attempted a few different shutter speeds from 1/30th s to 1s. At either end of this spectrum the result ranged from; slight look of out of focus to the bird dissappears completely. At 400ms i found a wonderful effect where the flight of seagulls transforms completely into what looks more like an energy wave, but the bird stays within the frame and has enough impact on the sensor to be engaging.

Process

I attempted to set up with a tripod, however found that i could not react quickly enough to capture the moving bird within the frame, so i took the shots free hand, leaning on whatever was available to help steady myself.

From my vantage point i had to set the lens to max 70mm in order to get enough resolution in the bird in flight. I initially tried my 140mm lens however found again that i could not manage to catch anything in the frame.

I set the camera to shutter priority and ISO auto allowing the camera to select the best balance between ISO and aperture for the available light. I settles down and watched the scene waiting for the moment to take the shot. As soon as i saw a bird ready to take flight or about to enter the frame in flight, i quickly move the camera so the bird was in the frame and took the shot.

The shot below, is seagull moving directly across the frame. At faster shutter speed it is possible for the viewer to see the bird all be it blurred and at slower speeds the wave is stretched and lighter so fades into the background.

Other times i have taken this shot the bird changes direction in flight and the effect is a more compressed wave, as can be seen here.

It is clear in this shot that the combination of moving the camera to catch the shot and slow shutter speed results in the background being blurred. As mentioned I found using the tripod fruitless in being able to catch the shots. In conclusion though I think that the blurred background adds to the abstract nature of these shots and so actually helps in the overall effect of asking the question to the viewer ‘what do you think you are looking at?’

Presentation and sequence – more

Mentioned on blog entry presentation and sequence, my tutor recently advised me to consider, the medium of presentation whilst creating my series of photographs for the assignments in EYV. In the blog i considered a photobook as the medium for presentation ( other media could be; magazine, art gallery, internet etc ). In this blog I consider how to think about your photographs in the context of an art gallery. I have selected a few shots which are in the contact sheet for my assignment 3 which I am currently working towards. Using photoshop to resize cut-n-paste I embedded the shots within an image of an art gallery. This gives a really good indication of how these photographs would look in this setting.

Project 3 ‘What matters is to look’

What is the decisive moment?

“It is the creation of art through the curation of time.” (The Decisive Moment is Dead. Long Live the Constant Moment, 2013)

In an article introducing an exhibition of the work of Henri Cartier-Bresson at the Pompidou centre in the spring of 2014, a quote used in the preface for the photobook itself is used.

The book’s preface opens with a quote by Cardinal de Retz: “There is nothing in this world that does not have a decisive moment.” (FotoRoom,2014)

For Cartier-Bresson, the decisive moment is that point in time, searched for, selected and captured by the photographer that brings together in an holistic way the scene in finest balance, never to be recreated. From the infinite array of decisive moments of Cardinal de Retz, the art of the photographer curates the decisve moment.

Views

Research

Today the decisive moment is often criticised for having become something of a stylistic cliché. In the decades after the 1930s, the most creative phase of Cartier-Bresson’s street photography, thousands of photographers learned the techniques of the ‘moment décisif ’ – leading, inevitably perhaps, to derivative work.

There are of course many exemplars of the decisive moment from photographers other than Cartier-Bresson. One example i take note of is the work of Larry Fink who himself expresses the influence of Cartier-Bresson “This picture came into being under the influence of Cartier-Bresson, with his marvellous understanding of deep space and compositional arrangements of the middle ground, of the whole – of the various syncopations and choreographic elements happening within a frame” (Fink, 2014:34) when introducing the picture sheep meadow. Fink has many examples which appear strongly influenced by the decisive moment as an expressive style and foundational photographic philosophy

Opinion

This is both inevitable and complimentary to the power of any particular style or movement. To ascend to ‘stylistic cliche’ as in the case of the decisive moment the idea must have enough power to influence so many and so deeply. This can be seen in all areas of artistic expression, most notably today I think in music where it sometimes appears that there are no new sounds just an infinite variety of reworking original ideas. Regardless of derivative work or not, the work can still have merit in my view, what it can’t do or have is power to influence in the same way as the original. In this way all ideas run out of steam eventually, a measure of the greatness of the idea is how long it lasts and how many people it influences.

Below photograph is perhaps Larry Fink’s most famous work – Pat Sabatine’s eighth birthday party. This can be seen as a clear example of decisive moment, the significant moment in time which captures the event perfectly.

Fig. 1 Pat Sabatine’s eighth birthday party (1977)

Research

Liz Wells

In ‘Photography: A Critical Introduction’ Liz Wells observes that fragmentary moments can be ‘dislocated’ from a greater context that might give them meaning:

‘Increasingly, documentary turned away from attempting to record what would formerly have been seen as its major subjects. The endeavour
to make great statements gave way to the recording of little dislocated moments which merely insinuated that some greater meaning might be at stake.’

The context of the quote from Liz Wells pertains to the environment in which Cartier-Bresson brought his idea of the decisive moment and then the impact this had on that environment. Documentary photography of the time was subject to a myriad of rules used to determine the authenticity of the work.

“We have already observed that any attempt to arrange and structure the location by a documentary photographer would be regarded as illegitimate behaviour, yet the aesthetic demand for well-composed shots remained.” (Wells, 2015:91)

“Thus, the celebrated French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson lay in wait for all the messy contingency of the world to compose itself into an image that he judged to be both productive of visual information and aesthetically pleasing. This he called ‘the decisive moment” (Wells, 2015:91)

The influence of the decisive moment was directional for documentary photography which tended to move away from recording of the obvious and grand subject matter and towards more detailed captures of cultural references of everyday life.

Opinion

As a photographic language, interpreting the world as little dislocated moments which insinuate something greater is in my view an example of evolving sophistication in how we communicate through the medium and so is an indication of a maturing medium.

Research

Colin Pantall

Another criticism of the decisive moment is that it somehow just misses the point of our contemporary situation. Reviewing Paul Graham’s photobook The Present, Colin Pantall writes:

‘…what he [Graham] wants us to see is the antithesis of the decisive moment and the spectacle of the urban experience. Instead we get a very contemporary contingency, a street with moments so decisively indecisive that we don’t really know what we are looking at or looking for.’

http://www.photoeye.com/magazine/reviews/2012/05_17_The_Present.cfm [accessed 19/01/18])

In this article Colin Pantall describes how The Present by Paul Graham challenges the relevance of the decisive moment in todays urban existence. The presentation within the book with many dyptychs and tryptychs across a number of page styles and showing very similar images, causes the viewer to look, move on, re-look. This causes an inability to settle on what is decisive or even what is important in any of the images. In another deviation from the decisive moment these images aim to down play all subjects be they people, buildings, cars etc Described by Pantall, “New York is a bit crappy for a start, an anti-nostalgic place that is run-down and anonymous. It looks pretty much like any other run down place. The people are the same. They�re not glamorous or striking or eccentric, but rather they�re harried, harassed and distant” (Pantall, 2012).

The photobook is shown here (colberg, 2012)

Opinion

In Pantall’s thinking, The Present represents a rejection of the decisive moment as not relevant to our modern urban life and the book certainly introduces an indecisive mood for the viewer. I personally don’t see the connection to modern urban existence and irrelevance of the decisive moment. For me The Present seems more to express the modern urban existence itself can be anonymous and full of indecision and this is a reflection of that. Thats not to say that there can be no decisive moments, when the perfect moment can be captured.

Research

Zouhair Ghazzal agrees that the decisive moment has become more of a cliché than a reality, although he believes it can contain something essential of life. But in a similar way to Pantall’s interpretation of Graham’s work, Ghazzal finds the contemporary urban landscape just ‘too monotonous and dull’ for the decisive moment.

See: http://zouhairghazzal.com/photos/aleppo/cartier-bresson.htm [accessed 19/01/18])

For Ghazzal the decisive moment, mostly attributed to people and their expressions, gestures and body language becomes a cliche. “At its core, the decisive moment is indeed mostly anecdotic—composed of short accounts of humorous or interesting incidents.” (Ghazzal, 2018). In agreement with Colin Pantall with respect to modern urban life too mundane to support the notion of decisive moments. Although Ghazzal goes further into connecting this mundanity to the centre-less mid American urban experience. “American photography, much more than the European, had to come to terms with cities in middle America and elsewhere that were new and decentered, and where not much was happening.” (Ghazzal, 2018)

Opinion

For photographers the decisive moment still has relevance. All criticism is valid but that does not deny or even reduce that relevance. There is a discipline within this method and philosophy – “What matters is to look” this is fundamental to the art of the photographer. To relax, look and be patient, don’t force the shot wait for the right moment, these are skills to learn and attributes to acquire that will always be relevant. Although true that the style, the typical outcomes have become cliche, a great shot that captures the moment perfectly will still be a great shot.

bibliography

Clayton Cubitt (2013) The Decisive Moment is Dead. Long Live the Constant Moment At:https://petapixel.com/2013/05/22/on-the-constant-moment/ (Accessed on 21.03.19

FotoRoom (2014) The Decisive Moment as Henri Cartier-Bresson Truly Meant it. At:https://fotoroom.co/decisive-moment-henri-cartier-bresson/ (Accessed on 14.03.19)

Fink, Larry (2014) On Composition and Improvisation. (first) New York: Aperture Foundation.

Liz Wells. (2015) Photography: A Critical Introduction (p. 91). Taylor and Francis. Kindle Edition.

Coburg, Jorg. (2012) Presenting The Present by Paul Graham. At: http://www.bfi.org.uk/filmtvinfo/publications/pub-repbrief/pdf/filmmakersguide.pdf (Accessed on 28.03.2019)

Pantall, Colin (2012) The Present. At: http://www.photoeye.com/magazine/reviews/2012/05_17_The_Present.cfm (accessed 28.03.2019)

Zouhair Ghazzal (2004) the indecisiveness of the decisive moment At: http://zouhairghazzal.com/photos/aleppo/cartier-bresson.htm (accessed 28.03.2019)

Illustrations

Figure 1. Pat Sabatine’s eighth birthday party (1977) [Photo] At: https://www-bridgemaneducation-com.ucreative.idm.oclc.org/en/search?filter_text=larry+fink (Accessed on 27.03.2019)

Exercise 3.2: Trace

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/woodman-space-providence-rhode-island-1975-1978-ar00350 [accessed 2nd March 2019]

I take inspiration from this series and aimed to use slow shutter speed to introduce motion within the frame. My intention in this exercise is to go further by aiming to give the impression of movement, kinetic energy in a more pure form by removing a connection to any particular object.

I started this exercise with a desire to reprise the previous exercise with slow shutter speed. In the previous exercise Freeze, I captured a swan in mid self wash, with fast shutter and so captured in sharp resolution frozen motion, my intention being to convey the idea of motion in a static sharp image.

I set out to find the same swan in the hope she was again washing herself, my hope being i could capture a swirling frenzy of feathery white in a ball of motion. This image i can picture in my mind and imagine this to be almost if not completely unidentifiable as a swan. There would be too much movement for the subject to be clear. I have not been lucky enough to find the swan in mid wash over a number of attempts during the last couple of weeks.

However I have to captured a similar set of images that are even stronger in representing the vision I have in my mind. My method was to try a few different shutter speeds from around 1/10s to 1s in an attempt to capture the flight of a seagull, where it is not apparent that the subject is a seagull or actually identifiable as anything at all. With the subject being ambiguous at best, what the observer is left with is purely movement of an abstract form. This i think is very interesting and worthy of much experimentation and investigation.

This example is one from the experimentation process as I approached the best shutter speed and subject. It is a shot of a swimming duck taken at 0.6s and is almost what i am looking for. It is however still possible to discern that this is a duck all be it transformed into a blur of movement. The fact that the observer can see this is a duck influences their impression of the image. I am looking to remove anything that detracts from the impression of pure movement, kinetic energy. That said I still find this image very attractive and interesting.

ƒ/29.0 44.0 mm 0.6s ISO 100

With a shutter speed of 0.4s I found an exposure time which transforms the flight of a seagull into what for me looks like the transposition of matter into pure energy. We see the world with a limited window across the spectrum of time, just as we see only a tiny slice of the electromagnetic spectrum. In this exercise i wonder how the world would look if we could see across a wider or different spectrum of time eg if we saw the world compressed into 0.4s slices these images are how a seagull in flight would appear to us. Very like how we perceive a humming bird in flight as a static object with a blur of wing flap. Other birds of a different size and wing, flight & speed would require a different shutter speed to achieve the effect seen here in these images.

Again i find this idea of movement in abstract form creating interesting and engaging images very attractive and worthy of further study.
ƒ/22.0 70.0 mm 0.6s ISO 100

Cropped and converted to monochrome in Lightroom

ƒ/18.0 70.0 mm 0.4s ISO 100
Cropped and converted to monochrome in Lightroom

ƒ/22.0 70.0 mm 0.4s ISO 100

Cropped and converted to monochrome in Lightroom

This exercise has reminded me of a few photographs i have taken over the past years which follow a similar theme to varying degrees

This is a shot of a rock on a beach as the tide is starting to wash over and cover it. The effect for me is interesting and part of that is the ambiguity of the image itself. The abstract nature allows the observer to concentrate more on the aesthetic of the image itself, free from the connection to narrative.

ƒ/20.0 62.0 mm 8s ISO 50
x10,000 neutral density filter

This shot was taken hand held with long shutter speed introducing movement in both the subject and the camera itself, the result although less ambiguous is still similar in impression.

ƒ/16.0 50.0 mm 10s ISO 100

Exercise 3.1 Freeze

Taking inspiration directly from :

Muybridge’s experiments were followed in 1906 by AM Worthington’s (1852–1916) series of drops and splashes. The shot i aimed for was to capture water at the moment of entry of some object, say a stone.

Technical details:

I set my camera to shutter priority 1/1000s to capture sharply any motion in the water. I first set focus on the water, then set to manual focus to keep this setting. I set ISO to auto, my thinking being to let the camera choose a good balance between aperture and ISO. Given the fast shutter speed and cloudy conditions, aperture selected by the camera was wide open in any case. Finally I set the camera to multi-shot mode.

Secondly I wanted to capture, in sharp focus and with no blur, the impression of kinetic energy, motion.

Technical details:

Camera set to shutter priority 1/1000s, Aperture f5.6, auto ISO, continuous focus mode.

I selected continuous focus mode to maintain sharp focus whilst the subject could be moving unpredictably through the frame.

I was very fortunate to come across a local swan in full blown cleaning mode, i took a number of shots and selected the picture which for me gave the most clear impression of motion, whilst sharp and still

With some cropping and darkening of the surrounding area, this effect can be emphasised.

In both cases for the pictures above I consider the question :

Does the camera capture time in these images, or does it fragment it, as Szarkowski believed, isolating thin slices to reveal something new?

In both cases something new is revealed in my opinion.

In the case of the stone entering the water we know intuitively that a splash will occur but we are less able to conceive of the state of the water at the instant when the stone disrupts. This is made clear in shot 3 of the stone sequence above.

The swan is in mid clean and there is much disruption around her, again we understand this, we see the blur of activity on occassion if we are lucky enough to live close by, but we do not see the full clarity of this until we capture it in fragments.

This exercise reminded my of a shot i took a few years ago whilst on a weekend trip to Amsterdam. I went to the Ajax v PSV Eindhoven game and was fortunate enough to capture this image.

This is relevant to mention at this juncture as, until this exercise, my thoughts on application for shutter priority mode and very fast capture were limited to this sort of shot. It fits i think with the theme of the assignment for part 3 – the decisive moment.