ACCIDENTAL WORK
Accidental work is not highly appreciated in the world of photography where precision and control are essential variables.
ACCIDENTS HAPPEN.
Street photography's nature generally demands shooting in an unplanned manner. Photographing in such mode often puts me into unexpected moments. From nice people who walk right into the frame just when the exposure is made to technical issues such as the classic double exposure, not to mention disgraceful mistakes such as over or under exposures or the dreadful lack of focus.
So what shall we ever do? You ask.
Embrace it! go with the flow! I say. Or at least accept it as a risk of the trade. Can’t we all just get along?
In fact some of my more beloved images were a result of such unexpected occasions, maybe because sometimes I just like to think that not all coincidents are accidental….
these are a few examples (from right to left) of nice people who just happen to walk by while I was photographing something else, one bird who flew into the frame creating a unique look/feel and of course the classic accidental double exposure.
UNPLANNED (and unstaged) PHOTOGRAPHY
Rarely I know what pictures I'm going to make ahead of time.
It can get pretty boring and take away from the excitement and the fresh, unpolished and unique view of one's personal truth and individual perspective, when absolutely knowing the end result or even worse, striving for something agreeable on others.
On many occasions the photographer relies entirely on technique to create a product to satisfy the client.
Not much creativity and imagination is involved.
The beauty of non-photography is that it allows one to let their inner true self (blah blah), subconscious or whatever it is, out in the open. Or at least, get in touch with it.
non-p relies on the phenomenon of finding reality usually not sought for.
whether you're aware of it or not, it's a direct connection to that mind eye just below the surface of consciousness.
In other words,
many photographers tend to 'recreate' their environment, mainly in order to come up with a pleasing, saleable product.
non-p, while taking benefit of what's already out there by keeping an open eye and mind, is a creative imaginative self expression.
already out there
usable non-photography techniques
ok, enough about open minds and inner drives.
now, on to the technical side of making photos in the non-p way.
probably less important, however, I get many questions regarding this aspect.
establishing and caring out non-p, it was pretty much necessary for me to develop
several methods to 'make-up' for the (rightly so!) absence of the add-ons.
and since I don't use any adds-on to my camera, the main tool I have is "the eye" which often
drives me to climb, to tilt the camera, to stand on impossible grounds or even lay on the ground.
it makes non-photography a fun and a challenging experience!
impossible grounds
 |
ground level
 |
tilting the camera
 |
Other than "the eye" I often take benefit of nature's natural phenomenons:
I photograph in the rain, at night, in the fog, against the sun (yeah!), etc.
these nature miracles seem to bring in a special touch to any scene.
at night
 |
in the rain
 |
against the sun
 |
in the fog (and rain)
 |
people sometimes write me asking which type of camera they should get. I often answer; "get a working camera" (please!), not patronizing, of course.
I really think it doesn't matter which camera is being used. To each his own.
I shoot all my pictures under manual (non-automatic) exposure settings. It makes a tremendous difference in the results and gives more freedom to "say something", to self-expression. I definitely don't get involved in the image, not directly anyway, but I make sure to "have a saying".
there are other methods proven to be pretty handy in non-photography; these are all simple techniques, which can be achieved by using the (working) camera alone and do not require any special equipment.
they assist in joining together that distinctive individual touch to an existing scene.
Such as:
Panning a moving subject (keeping the subject sharp while the background is blurred), high contrast (shooting the scene with a great difference between the light and dark areas), deep or shallow depth of field (aperture controls), making long exposures, stressing reflections, taking close-ups, shooting action, silhouettes, halo or glowing subjects (by letting back lighting come from behind the subject), freezing or blurring motion (shutter speed controls), pushing or pulling the film (usually produces more grain and contrast), etc.
panning
 |
reflection
 |
high contrast
 |
blurring motion
 |
silhouettes
 |
long exposure
 |
close up
 |
shallow depth
of field
 |
beyond non-photography
and all of the above are just helpful shooting techniques that can be applied in non-photography.
once the picture has been exposed the next step will follow. there are many choices in developing,
processing and printing these images.
this last touch, carried in the darkroom or over a PC, gives one even more control over the image's final design.
|