I waited for her to walk into my frame.
For those that have ever shot at a clay pigeon, you know you have to lead it. In other words don’t shoot where they are, shoot where they’re going to be. If you shoot where they are, you’ll miss every time.
A similar analogy can be applied to photography…how you say?
First of all let me explain what Skeet shooting is all about. Simply, it’s a recreational and competitive activity where participants, using shotguns, attempt to break clay targets mechanically flung into the air; and since I love to shoot at these little fellows I can compare it to street shooting.
As I’ve demonstrated to my online class with the BPSOP, and in person with my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet, the next time you’re out shooting action or anything that moves whether it be a person or object, try aiming your camera where your subject is going to be and not where it is when you start shooting.
Try giving he, she, or it a destination; someplace to wind up. As I’m writing this post I think of Henri Cartier-Bresson and how he would shoot his photos. Although he was a master at capturing the moment, he would also ocasionally arrange his composition keeping in mind geometric shapes; much like I tell my students after filling their ‘artist Palette’ with all the elements of visual design; shape and pattern to name a couple.
Cartier-Breson would design his composition and then wait for some action. For example a person walking into it and at a pre-chosen spot in the frame he would click the shutter.
Although this concept is always in the back of my mind, I also look for and follow the action, i.e., a person walking down the street or that person about to do something worth taking a picture of. Hopefully my peripheral vision will allow me to see the movement coming out of the corner of my eye and while I’m following it I’m also looking ahead to see where he’s going (or doing) and wait for the right moment to click the shutter; having your camera set on continuous is a good idea in this instance.
Then you can get really lucky, as in the top photo.
I was leading my workshop in Lisbon and as usual we were walking aound the “City of Seven Hills”. I came upon this graffiti covered streetcar and because of the color and all the people walking up the hill, I decided to wait.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw this woman coming up the street and I quickly aimed my camera and decided on this composition and where I wanted her to be; one reason was to have control of the placement because of all the graffiti that would be distracting if it were coming out of her head!!!
Will as Eddie Adams once said, “When you get lucky, be ready”. She saw me and stopped to ask a question…unfortunately I don’t speak Portuguese. I shrugged my shoulders and she walked off. Where she went after the brief encounter was irrevelent since I had got it!!!
Leading the action.
In the bottom image, whike leading a group to photograph the flooded rice paddies in southern rural China, I saw the woman coming and as she was walking I was following her with my camera, but I was leading her by several feet and waited until she was in an area that clearly defined her and placed her close to the edge of the frame to create Visual Tension.
Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com, and check out my 2018 workshop schedule at the top of this blog. Come shoot with me sometime.
This coming July 29th will be my 30th anniversary teaching at the Maine Media Workshop. I’ve always picked this time as it’s the week of the Lobster Festival down the road in Rockland. This ofers a unique set of photo ops, different from the Maine Coast, fishing villages and lighthouses. The Lobster Festival is all about color, design, light, energy, people watchng and environmental portraits everywhere you look; some people are there in costumes and loved to be photographed.
In conjunction with The Santa Fe Workshops, on October 2nd I’ll be leading a group in San Miguel de Allende. A beautiful oasis and artist colony, and the entire city is a UNESCO site.
Come join me for a week of fun and photography…what could be better?
JoeB
