Having an editor can be hard. I had started a blog post about authenticity in photography and the arts. I thought it was pretty good. (Pretty ain't good enough!) I got my son Greg, photo / video/ copy editor at Barker Imaging, to take a look at it. His thoughts were that it was too abstract. It presented my philosophical take on the creative process, but did little to involve my readers in the actual nuts and bolts of the craft. He suggested that I try to present a more real-time account of what it's like to be out actually making photographs. He referenced the style of Ernest Hemingway. (his favourite author) Hemingway involved his readers in the scene in a very first person way. A little less about thoughts on the process, a little more on the action itself. Let the readers make up their own minds!
Well, I'm no Ernest Hemingway, but I kinda dug the concept. That being said, I decided to take you, the reader, on a little walk about town while I attempted to make photographs. The idea is to not only give you what's going on in the camera, but also what's going on in my head.
It always begins with gear selection....Always. I have too much gear. Wait... Did I say that out loud? I sometimes envy my colleagues who have one camera and perhaps one or two lenses. They don't begin their adventures by staring into two camera bags deciding what they're going to take for a simple walk about town. Often I opt for my Fujifilm X100F. It's a very well appointed simple camera designed primarily for street and travel photographers. It doesn't take interchangeable lenses. It just is what it is. It's a great camera to grab when i just want go take some damn pictures!
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| My Fujifilm X100F In my opinion, one of the best street photography cameras ever made. |
https://refractivereasoning.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-silver-camera.html
However, today I opt for the X-T cameras. I've got an X-T1 and an X-T3. I haven't used them in a while. They are the heavy hitters in my arsenal. They're both extremely well made , weather resistant, reliable as hell and just good cameras to use. I take the 35mm lens off the X-E3 and mount it on my X-T3. Arrange a few things in the Domke F2 camera bag and I'm good to go. Today I'm also bringing my little Olympus voice recorder. The idea is to record my thoughts while I'm doing this little walk and taking the photos. We'll see how it plays out.
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| My Fujifilm X-T series cameras |
I cross the street and start heading up the trail to the dam. I photograph the dam far too much. It's at the point now where friends in my photo group jokingly apologize when they shoot it! "I took some pictures of the dam in Paris today.... Sorry Gord!" I extend the joke further. "Okay, but next time pay the access fee and fill out the application forms in triplicate!" I don't really own the dam. It's just that I've photographed it so much it feels like I do!
I start up the trail to the dam. The trail is a little muddy today. We've had some rain and the ground is also wet from snow melt. Typical spring conditions. I see some tracks in the mud made by a very large dog. It reminds me of seeing wolf tracks on the trail to Barth Lake in Northern Ontario. There was a line cabin on the lake that a kindly retired trapper allowed a friend of mine and I to use whenever we wanted as long as we took care of it. My mind starts reminiscing about times spent at the cabin. You can take the boy out of the North, but you can't take the North out of the boy!
Enough about the past. Photography is a human activity that is purpose driven. If I'm carrying a camera, my purpose, in that moment, is to make photographs. It's about capturing moments. To capture a moment I have to BE in that moment! It's about the here and now. It's about the stuff that is right in front of me. Perhaps that's what I was trying to get at when I wrote posts on this blog about shooting with intent. I can reminisce about good times spent at the old cabin later.
I get to the dam and make a couple of perfunctory shots of it. The day is dull and grey. Not my favourite kind of weather for shooting. Unlike many photographers, I like hard light. I like contrast. Either visual contrast in the photo itself or subjective contrast such as an abandoned pair of ladies shoes vs. the wheel of a hot car in the background. If you want to get a handle on what might laughingly be called my style, look for the contrast. I like pictures that pop out at you to make you take notice
At the dam I make a couple of shots of the train bridge reflected in the water behind it. I'm shooting through a steel railing of the patio area close to the dam. I like how the reflection in the water is made abstract by the movement of the water itself. That contrast thing kicks in again. I wonder how it would look against the hard steel of the railing that I'm shooting through. I try it. It's not an award winning shot, but at least I'm thinking creatively. Perhaps I'll try the shot again sometime with a different lens or a different approach.
I leave the area by the dam and walk up to the boardwalk that borders the river near the train bridge. I had done a nice shot of the boardwalk on a foggy morning about two months ago. I had photographed it from the perspective of looking toward the train bridge. Today I wanted to try the opposite approach, shooting it from under the bridge looking towards the town. It's the reason I brought my 16mm lens (Thanks Dean.) coupled to my Fujifilm X-T1 camera. (Thanks Tom.) As I'm getting that camera out of the bag, I'm startled by a train rumbling across the bridge overhead. Anyone who knows me knows that I like trains. I was practically raised on them. But DAMN they're loud when you're standing right under one!
Anyway, I take the shot I had in mind. I love using the wide angle lens whenever I want to emphasize depth in a photograph. Stop down the aperture (in this case f11) , focus on something in the foreground and let the damn thing stretch out! Very cool!
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Leaving the area by the dam, I decide to go downtown for a coffee. With the exception of a quick street style shot that I did of a young couple walking in front of me, I really didn't see much downtown that caught my attention. I wandered over to the coffee bar at Wincey Mills, had an Americano and came home. That's it. That's all. It wasn't the best photo walk I've ever done. The New York Times isn't leaving me messages offering to send me to exotic places. But, hopefully I've provided a little insight in how I do what I do.
And I love what I do.
...more later
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