See, analyze, predict
Think twice, press the shutter once or how to become a “Healthy photographer”
I’ve been asked a lot about how many photos I take before having the best one - do I burst hundreds of shots or carefully taking just 2-3 and the right one is among them.
Well, one might get different answers on this question. I’d say there are few elements that play important role for the photographer to “educate” them selves in becoming, let’s call it a “Healthy photographer”. And this has much to do with the way we see and perceive the world, how much we analyze it and visually memorize what we actually see. Why, you may ask.
I started with a film camera
- just basic parameters, but giving enough freedom for the novice to learn and train the fundamentals, and for the experienced and creative photographer to do “in camera” miracles, before even puling out the film (and process the scanned frames). Here is where it all started for me. It didn’t took so long to establish a fruitful friendship with my camera but it took quite a lot of testing and experimenting in real life, resulting in dozens of film rolls being filled with intriguing material, that I’m curious to see even today.
After learning the film processing basics in school I started experimenting in my improvised home Dark room, using my mother’s (red) dress to cover the bulb in the room so I don’t get the film or photographic paper exposed to and affected by the active light. There is something unique and romantic in processing the film and printing photos at home – it revokes the same situation, remembers the exact moment when you took that same shot and brings back the same feelings. And the moment when the image starts to appear on the processed empty sheet of paper it feels like falling in love. At least for me. We will talk about this in the future posts.
With the time I learned and invented my own tricks that I still use even in today’s digital world. As a result I learned to appreciate every frame and to press the shutter when I’m ready. And to be ready means I was able to predict the subject/scene. model’s behavior in the next few seconds or minutes and I got used to keep my finger on a stand by on the shutter. Even, I learned how to keep my breath and delay breathing for quite long time so not to miss the moment I'm waiting for. I learned to think twice and press it once. Perhaps here is the key why I’m still enjoying my 1966th model Canon.
As a photo reporter, just to make sure I won’t miss the key frame of certain event or scene, I’ve been on the other side - when putting the camera on burst mode and shooting few frames with a single click (like this one here that exposed my work to thousands of viewers worldwide). But this happened very rare in my practice. But even then, ability to analyze and predict the situation was helping me a lot - to save film rolls and to prolong my camera’s life.
I learned to analyze the current situation and visualize the future scene in my head, taking into account all the factors - model/subject behavior, surrounding objects, the lighting conditions and so on. Knowing also how my camera and lens work I could make corrections in advance either in my camera’s settings or the subject’s/model’s position (if possible), or to change my position according to the model. And all this happens for a few seconds only. Then, when I’m happy with what I see in my head I can go back and to press the shutter. I press the shutter only once and most of the time this is the picture I want. See?
You may ask why is this needed when today’s digital technologies/cameras and storage media offer unlimited space and deleting unnecessary shots immediately.
It is simple - because educating yourself in (and being able to) shoot sparingly requires you to engage your brain as well as your entire physics, yes, I’m talking your body - your eyes, muscles, your patience to name a few. The process of taking a certain photo is not just a finger pressing the shutter button, but uses you entirely as a human being – physically and mentally. Thus you develop your very own attitude to what you’re doing with your eyes and camera and you develop your own unique style that people will easily recognize among others.
Many people tell me that they find me quite interesting when they see me shooting a concert for example. They say the poses I take are quite unusual for a photographer and they are more interested in watching me what pose I will strike next, most often springing on my feet like pantograph. Sometimes they even find me more interesting than the show itself going on on stage at that same time.
Today's digital cameras
give the owner something often called "freedom," but in my opinion, it's really nothing more than a wasting precious time in unnecessary clicks with the camera, mostly - this "freedom" actually makes you just a random snapper (you are far from a Photographer yet), who doesn't think at all when taking a photo.
Then, if you don’t put your personal attitude in this, how you expect the viewer to do the same when looking at your photos?
Having the comfort of being able to review and delete bad shots immediately cuts/throws your imagination away, takes away your ability to think and imagine the scene, you are missing important details and elements that could otherwise play important role in the frame, last but not least, you get drowned in dozens of similar shots, easily forgetting what were you taking that photo of. Think about it.
Using the camera as a “memories storage device” for your hundreds of unnecessary frames without getting into any interaction with it is not what the camera is intended for. The camera has a Viewfinder not a “dead eye” that only stares, but not seeing. And the word says it all – “Viewfinder” is the window you use to find your best frame through. Although there are some technological attempts, this can’t be done by the camera itself. Obviously, It has no brain for that:)
Relying on the camera to take the decision instead of you makes the photo Camera’s photo, not yours. Then, when later reviewing all the hundreds of shots you have taken, you get easily disappointed and frustrated because almost none of them is making you happy, and you’re not satisfied with the result. True?
Although it would be extremely helpful, I’m not saying you should start shooting on film in order to train yourself. I’m talking about becoming a “Healthy photographer”. It is probably me, who just invented this term, but I can’t think of more suitable term to describe what I mean. What I’m saying is that you have to invest some serious time to educate yourself to SEE and ANALYZE what you are seeing. Then, you will easily be able to predict the subject’s future behavior and taking the actual photo will become the easiest part.
Ok, back to the point.
Imagine if you shoot all your Summer vacation snapping dozens of shots per object, and to say, you finish your day with 500-600 shots (I personally know people that do much more per regular vacation day), of which you actually need about 15. Now take your time and make a simple calculation. At the end of your vacation you’ll have a tired camera that will probably hate you :)
Adopting the "Healthy photographer" manner, if you learn and train your self to shoot sparingly, your camera will thank you. Why?
Cameras are not build to last forever, they have limited shutter counts after which number they will probably stop functioning properly and you’ll have to buy a new one or to put quite serious money in repairing it. With the film cameras this is an issue too, but we can still see great film cameras, more than 40 years old, like my 1966th Canon FT QL for example, that function without any sign of damage. With digital bodies things look differently, there is not only a mechanics involved, but also the sensor that came to replace the film and it theoretically has a limited life too (often due to better image capture technologies appearing constantly) and it brings along a typical damages not occurring in film cameras.
As a conclusion
This is where I put the very first focus in my LEARN PHOTOGRAPHY NATURAL WAY course I’m starting this Summer. Becoming a “Healthy photographer” will give you the freedom to produce your own photos rather than relying on the camera to do this instead of you. Then, having learned to save your time, you can use it to enjoyi your future photography career rather than sitting in fron of the computer screen and selecting thousands of similar frames, you will now have the best answer to the question we started with.
Check out the Course program highlights and if you feel it is for you – I will be happy to meet you this Summer in the charming Ahtopol!
See you soon.
Momchil
P.S. Any comments including grammar and style related ones are welcomed and appreciated.
