It was all about “good timin”.
Okay, so you’re looking at the title of this post and you’re scratching your heads wondering just who in the hell Jimmy Jones was; certainly not a famous photographer.
As I’ve stated before, the quotes in this category are not necessarily written by well known photographers or even painters. That said, they are quotes from artists in their own right.
I realize that I might be showing my age, but in 1960 a man named Jimmy Jones wrote one of my favorite songs…”Good Timin”, and it’s one of the concepts I’m always mentioning to students in my BPSOP online class, and to those that signup for my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet…why you might be asking yourself?
When I was recently walking around with my fellow photographers on the streets in Berlin, I noticed that they were usually too quick or sometimes too late to click the shutter; missing the peak of the action. Btw, Berlin is not the only time I’ve seen this happening.
In the case of being too quick, I watch people bring their camera up to their eye when they see something they want to photograph and just start clicking away. Needless to say I’m talking about something that moves i.e., a person, car, animal, etc., and not some stationary subject.
There’s always the chance that your timing might be perfect, but I’m here to tell you that the odds are that you’ll be too early or too late. Okay, so now you say why not start shooting right away so you’ll be sure to get it.
The answer (based on fifty years of shooting) is that in the case of a person, once they see you they won’t continue any action for one reason or another; in other words you might just have one shot at it…literally!!!
The solution? What I do is have my camera down at my side and slightly behind me (being un-obtrusive as possible) with my finger on the shutter release. Once I see where it’s going, I quickly bring my camera up and take the shot and at least get it “in the can”. Then I continue until I feel that whatever it was that made me bring my camera up was over.
As far as being too late, the same sort of applies. I have the same camera down at my side and (always) at the ready. If I’m on time, then being too late is moot. I’m looking for that moment in time when I’m able to stop an action leaving it un-completed; one of the ways to create visual tension. It’s all about being aware of your environment and constantly looking all around for posible ‘keepers’.
In the above image taken during my workshop in San Miguel, I was stading outside my house early in the morning and saw this woman cleaning the sidewalk. The sun was coming up right down the small cobblestone street, and as she was sweeping she was kicking up a little dust. Because it was backlit it seemed to glow, so I waited until I could get the most dust…with my camera at my side with my finger on the shutter release.
She looked at me and since I was not theatening she lost interest. For one brief moment she stepped into the street and began sweeping. I was able to get off one shot before she saw me and ducked back into the doorway.
Here’s the link to my song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=modfq47onwU
Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com, and check out my workshop schedule at the top of this blog. Come shoot with me sometime. I just announced my New York, New York Workshop beginning September 17th ,2019 and ending at noon on the 23rd. This will be my second workshop there and this time we’ll be shooting in all the five boroughs.
JoeB
