Sharing this as a field note rather than a tutorial.
One walk, a lot of weak frames, hard light, bad corners, and the few photographs that survived the edit.
The part I’m interested in is not the heroic idea of “getting the shot”, but the dull, useful work before it: walking, missing, looking again, and cutting most of it away.
Video: https://youtu.be/v-AXCoQT0eA
I would watch a longer version of this. Very cool.
Thanks a lot, Bob. I’ll keep posting videos like this.
I find this interesting, because you have such a different shooting style than I have — I don’t think you ever really stood still for more than a second, it was more like you had somewhere to be and taking the pictures just happened to coincide with that.
Also, I personally wouldn’t be comfortable getting such close, in-their-face shots of people. Are they generally OK with it? What if they aren’t? How do you deal with all that? (Genuinely curious, I love the result).
Of course it helps that you’re walking around with a compact, not a full frame with some hefty lens sticking out, but still.
Either way, interesting video!
Thanks so much for taking the time to watch the video and comment on my work.
That day was really just an erratic photo walk with my dog. There was no planned route, and everything I came across was completely accidental. A bit like going hunting, but in a much more pacifist way.
As for getting close to people, I do feel comfortable shooting like that, although it’s certainly not the only kind of photography that interests me. So far, people haven’t taken it badly. In fact, I haven’t had a single moment where someone stopped me and asked for an explanation.
You’re right that using a compact, discreet camera definitely helps. But I also work in a similar way with my Leica M10 Monochrom, as long as I’m using small lenses, usually 21mm, 28mm or 35mm.
Anyway, I really appreciate the time you’ve spent looking at my work.
