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Re: [OM] Shooting candids [was OM-5D II mini review]

Subject: Re: [OM] Shooting candids [was OM-5D II mini review]
From: Jan Steinman <Jan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2009 22:56:49 -0800
> From: Moose <bylzbbfr@xxxxxxxxx>
>
> First, long lenses and good IQ at high ISOs offer the ability to
> photograph people from outside their vigilant zone, at least in many
> parts of the world.

There is something to be said about photographing people *inside*  
their "vigilant zone" -- with their knowledge and approval, of course.

One might separate all photography into two general categories:  
objective and subjective. In objective photography, long lenses are  
key -- you need to support the illusion that the photograph is merely  
a recording of reality. Yea, it has its place, and I do a lot of this  
sort of photography. (Especially when someone pays me to. :-) But  
lately, I find it increasingly boring.

Subjective photography is "in your face." The photographer is clearly  
(although not directly visibly) a compositional element of the  
photograph. The subject is interacting with the photographer, and  
thus, the viewer. Whenever you ask someone to look at the camera and  
smile, you are doing subjective photography. But this also happens  
when you shove a super-wide right in the middle of some activity, so  
the viewer feels immersed in the activity. Subjective photography  
blatantly acknowledges that there really is no such thing as objective  
photography -- when you observe something, you change that thing.

I find I'm increasingly drawn to this technique. Perhaps it's merely  
re-discovering what HC-B pioneered long ago, but as a viewer, I want  
to identify with the subject, and feel what the subject is feeling,  
rather than feeling detached from the subject, as though they were  
some insect on a microscope slide.

Someone recently poked fun about my selling "pretty pictures in art  
festivals" vs having to perform commercially viable photography. But  
the pictures I make the most money from are those that are subjective,  
those that establish a relationship between the subject and the  
viewer. When I shoot an event, and the client looks over the  
portfolio, the images they choose invariably are the tightest, widest  
shots, and *not* the long, detached, "outside vigilant zone" shots.

Wikipedia defines "candid photography" (in part) as "photography that  
focuses on... the immersion of a camera within events..." To me, that  
suggests sticking a wide angle lens in someone's face, rather than  
shooting them from across the room with a long lens.

:::: Production from local resources for local needs is the most  
rational way of economic life. -- EF Schumacher ::::
:::: Jan Steinman http://www.EcoReality.org::::


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