Think about the photo before and after, never during. The secret is to take your time. You mustn’t go too fast. The subject must forget about you. Then, however, you must be very quick. What's going here? A rookie is telling me that Cartier-Bresson is a liar? This is totally crazy! Probably this is your first reaction reading the title and the quote of this post, but give me time and I will show you my experience on street. So the picture you can see above was made some months ago (May, 30th) in Naples with my smartphone. Maybe you like it, maybe you don't; it doesn't matter! this picture is exactly what I meant to shot in that moment and I love her expression! The point of this article is that with the idea expressed by Cartier-Bresson probably I would not be able to make this photo. But let's start from the beginning! During one of my dealy shooting walk I found this interesting subject. I was in a raised position and she was immediatly under me, I could see her shoulder, her hair under a hat, but could not see her face. I start to make photos to her, hoping to be able to shot her face. No way! In this second shot a person ran near my subject creating a nice shadow. At first time I thought "maybe I have my shot, I can stop!" but thinking about what I really wanted I decided continuing to photograph her. Here you can see the results of my patient shots. There are some little differences between these photos but nothing relevant I can define a good street photography. So I decided to break the rule of Cartier-Bresson (hoping he could forgive me) and I interfered with my subject. Me: "Excuse me? Hey? You!" Subject: "..." Yikes! I had got her attention! And when she looked at me I started to make pictures with my phone. But I called her so she was expecting a question. Me: "Could you tell me where I can find 'Corso Umberto'? (Corso Umberto is on of the most famous street in Naples) Subject: "What the hell? Get out of my way!!!" Nice. I got out of her way with a big smile. Thinking about I had a picture... After choosing my photogram nothing left to do that a little of post-production. And that's all!
Well... what's the lesson? I think the lesson is that there is no rule. You are the photographer! You are the artist! and you are the only one can taste the right moment to shot. When you are on the street with your cam, you are alone with yourself! If you follow manuals probably you will make a perfect photo, but if you follow the flow of the street you could make a masterpiece. Ok! Ok! At this moment I have got no masterpiece in my portfolio... Maybe I need to follow masters' suggestions... Thank you for your attention! Please feel free to displease me!
4 Comments
|
AuthorMe! ArchivesCategories |