Fallen into snapshot mode... help!

[brians]

I am a beginning amateur photographer who kind of backslided into this snapshot mentality where street photography means trying to squeeze off as many shots as possible without taking the time to think and capture a decisive moment. I am very into fine arts photography and street photography, but it seems like all I'm shooting are snapshots. Are there any books or any ideas that I can study in order to train or develop an eye for these two aspects of photography? The last thing I want to be sucked into a cycle of wasting rolls of film (kind of like a lomographer) with no potential meaning and depth in my exposures. Kind of a painful admission, but I think I've been more infatuated with acquiring gear rather than working on my shooting.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

 

[kaiyen]

Hey there,
I feel this is an easy trap in which to fall. I also think there are a number of ways to get out of it.

One thing I do is to give myself a project. Since I ride the bus to work, I'm slowly building up on a "bus stop" project. My goal is to photography several bus stops themselves, then eventually portraits of the people I meet at those stops. Having a project in mind gives me enough pause to consider why this or that picture/composition/etc would be meaningful in that context.

That usually works for me. It's a fine line between meaningful and haphazard in street photogrpahy, I think.

FWIW - RFF in particular is a dangerous place for those of us that get a bit equipment-centric at times. All the talk about buying this or that can be overwhelming. I have a piece of paper on my wall at home that says "Jupiter 12, Turret Finder, >R2a" on it that reminds me what I allow myself to get. Otherwise I'd be out of control.

good luck,
allan

 

[cp_ste.croix]

i don't know about specific books, but looking at photography critically has always inspired me. Also, I like to read art books and things on composition. There are plenty of great shots in the gallery to contemplate w/o spending $ on a book if you want

 

[julianphotoart]

1. One great thing about rangefinders is the ability (at least with a viewfinder approaching 1:1) to see with both eyes open, and thus see the broader scheme of things than just what's in he viewfinder. If one combines that ability with the idea of seeing people as moving graphic objects/shapes, then one can compose those objects/shapes in a compelling way that works for street photography.
2. Using a 28 or 35 lens gives enough depth of field where one can perhaps even NOT use the viewfinder but become part of a scene (again thinking of people as just graphic objects/shapes) and do things from the hip/chest, etc.
3. Process and print your own B&W and pump up the contrast a fair bit; that accentuates the graphical nature of the objects/shapes that also happen to be people.
4. Though I can accomplish #1 and 2, I'm just usually too chicken to go do it. I'm too big and tall to blend in or feel confident that I'm inconspicuous. I also don't live somewhere these days where anything compelling happens (unless it's surfing).

That's my 2-cents.

 

[vincentbenoit]

Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

Spend some time studying the great masters of the genre. Look at their pictures and ask yourself what it is that make them so special. Analyse the images in terms of composition, perspective, lighting, depth-of-field, etc. Try to guess what focal length and what aperture were used by the photographer. As a starting point I would suggest you check out the work of Jeanloup Sieff (http://www.jeanloupsieff.com/), or Sebastiao Salgado (http://amazonasimages.com/).

Hope this helps.

Vincent

 

[vincentbenoit]

In my opinion Jeanloup Sieff was a master of perspective. He's taken incredible situational portraits with a 21mm lens on his Leica M, among other photographic tours de force.

 

[bobomoon]

Or give in completely to the snapshot aesthetic. Like Elliot Erwit, Snaps (Aperture Press, i think). HCB, Friedlander, and the other iconic street photogs have all, in some way, elevated the 'snapshot.'

On another note HCB's 'L'instant decisif' was heavily influenced by Zen and the Art of Archery. From Jean-Pierre Montier's, Henri Cartier-Bresson and the Artless Art:

"This was principally because it was neither a treatise on art nor a learned commentary, but an actual experience...that called into play all aspets of human life, with no dogma attached. At once an account of an apprenticeship in the acquisition of a skill, a questioning of the self, the search for inner improvement, an initiation into beauty and the achievement of a harmony with the world, it holds the same spiritual, material and artistic dimensions that had always constituted a whole in his own experience as photographer."

 

[sf]

I know how that feels. It isn't about reading books. It is about slowing down. Plain and simple. And getting over the "gotta capture everything as fast as I can" mentality. I tend to slip into that mode (did that ALOT when I had my DSLR). I suppose that comes as your eye gets sharper and you see so many photo opportunities swirling around you. Can't capture everything. I wait for the real winners . . .kind of a gray area in between the losers and the winners, but you have to figure out how to control the shutter-urge.

Using a totally manual camera helps alot. My RF645 helps me slow down because I have to focus and wind and frame (with the external) before shooting. WHen you look at the shot three times before releasing the shutter, you tend to not take a great deal of worthless pics. SHooting with an M3 and a gossen analog meter would be a good way to put on the brakes. Not a spot meter.

 

[RML]

Slow down! Like Shutterflower says, take time to get the "winners". Go out with 1 camera with 1 lens and 1 roll of film, and don't come back before you've been out for at least 2 hours. That'll force you spread your shooting.

Setting yourself some sort of assignment also works to come home with only a handful of shots, mostly crappy ones. 😛

If you must snap all the time, get yourself a digicam and shoot away. That way you can keep the rf + film for those real shots. 🙂

 

[vincentbenoit]

Or give in completely to the snapshot aesthetic. Like Elliot Erwit, Snaps (Aperture Press, i think). HCB, Friedlander, and the other iconic street photogs have all, in some way, elevated the 'snapshot.'

Some of Friedlander's photos might be described as 'snapshots' in the sense the original poster had in mind but I don't think it's true of Erwitt's and HCB's. Their pictures are only snapshots as far as they were taken 'on the fly' (and this is what the title of Erwitt's book alludes to), but there was always a great deal of care going into the composition.

Vincent

 

[pvdhaar]

The last thing I want to be sucked into a cycle of wasting rolls of film (kind of like a lomographer) with no potential meaning and depth in my exposures. Kind of a painful admission, but I think I've been more infatuated with acquiring gear rather than working on my shooting.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

I guess it's a phase that many go through, and I don't even think it's all bad. If all the shots you take would be entirely premeditated, the result would be completely lifeless.

But here's a couple of ideas, all starting from the same point; why don't you force yourself to go through the stack of pictures you've taken in this snapshot mode?

Sort all these pictures by colour. Make a 'sunburst' collage.

Check all pictures two by two and find combinations where you can merge half of one with half of the other.

Or, take some black cardboard and cut two L shapes. Use these to decide on the best 'crop' for each picture. I'm sure you'll find some of them truely interesting. Find out what it is that really grabs you in that picture, and make that your pursuit for the next roll of film. Of course you'll load up with a 12 frame roll that will have to last you for a complete day..

Your imagination is the limit..

 

[sfb_dot_com]

Don't forget the dictum:

An amateur practises until he gets it right...

A professional practises until he can't get it wrong

Maybe you are being a bit hard on yourself. We don't know how many pictures HCB threw away in his lifetime. Van Gogh only sold one painting in his entire life, but Da Vinci only painted 6!

Go shoot!

And show us a few pleeeese!

Andy 😀

 

[vincentbenoit]

Using a totally manual camera helps alot. My RF645 helps me slow down because I have to focus and wind and frame (with the external) before shooting. WHen you look at the shot three times before releasing the shutter, you tend to not take a great deal of worthless pics. SHooting with an M3 and a gossen analog meter would be a good way to put on the brakes. Not a spot meter.

I don't think that letting oneself be slowed down by the equipment should be used as a means to think more before pressing the shutter. The ability to eschew snapshot mode does not come from being slower in taking the picture, but in being fast both at visualising the image in one's mind and in acting in such a way as to capture it on film. HCB didn't make all his great pictures by fiddling with his Leica....

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

I give myself a theme, maybe 'color' or 'kids' or 'busy' or 'relaxing' and try to take photos to firt that theme for the day.

 

[lynn]

Snapshooting, I think, is a tendency you either have or you don't. I don't. I wish I did sometimes - like when I have a test roll to get through, for example. Even when I shot digital, I would come back from an afternoon out with 60 or 70 photos; my daughter, in the same afternoon, would shoot hundreds...
Coincidentally, I came upon this essay late last night - http://camster-factor.blogspot.com/2006/01/tao-of-snapshootism-i-am-snapshootist.html - a different perception, as it were! 🙂
Peter: great ideas!

 

[matti]

Sometimes I do not to take the camera, but try to visualize the pictures anyway. It is easier to concentrate on the important thing. The problem is, of course, that no pictures are taken 😉 But if I see something interesting I can come back another day and try to find the same situation.

/matti

 

[varjag]

Don't fight it, ride it. Snapshot mode might be natural for you, and if so there's a chance it'd be more productive.

If it is not your natural condition, the effect will wear out and you'll slow down with time.

 

[Bertram2]

The last thing I want to be sucked into a cycle of wasting rolls of film (kind of like a lomographer) with no potential meaning and depth in my exposures. Kind of a painful admission, but I think I've been more infatuated with acquiring gear rather than working on my shooting. .

Could be. In general I understand you as not having a prob with snapshooting but not beeing contended with the photos ? No meaning, no depth or whatever the prob is .
Books won't help, snapshot, street, fine art, or whatever issue, it does not play a role at all. The advice of kaiyen to think about a project is the best of all IMHO. I mean you simply must think about WHAT you want to photograph and WHY you want to photograph it. The project must have something to do with you and your life, your concerns, your passions, your emotions, your personality.

THEN first this is photography, otherwise it is trying out a machine only.

A matter of prorities: First the idea ! Second the structuring it with a project (time, place, light ), third chosing the right tool (s). Camera, lens, tripod, filter, film and dev(!) and what else you might need.

Amateur photogs often tend to mix up the priorities, the buy an excavator as a toy and then they dig huge holes where nobody needs any holes, just to hear the engine, broooooooooomm, broooooooooooom !! 😉

bertram

 

[bobomoon]

Some of Friedlander's photos might be described as 'snapshots' in the sense the original poster had in mind but I don't think it's true of Erwitt's and HCB's. Their pictures are only snapshots as far as they were taken 'on the fly' (and this is what the title of Erwitt's book alludes to), but there was always a great deal of care going into the composition.

Vincent

Granted 'snapshot' alludes to sloppiness/amateurishness and other slightly negative connotations but it also seems to be a way of managing artistic anxiety with a very generous medium. 'Oh, they're just snapshots,' says many an experienced photog. False modesty or somehow inspiration?

I agree there is a 'great deal of care going into the composition,' but there is also the anticipation and coincidence of an unseen and unknowable future that the street photographer waits/chases/stalks/hunts/lives/stops time for.

But then again, I'm a lame/impotent/theoretical hobby photographer where as Vincent is the real deal. Vincent, I am inspired/schooled by your images.

And on another note has anyone seen Contacts? It's a series of short films on 3 dvds where photographers go over their contact sheets frame by frame. I only watched the first dvd but it's got HCB, william klein, raymond depardon, mario giacomelli, koudelka, doisneau, boubat, erwitt, mark riboub, leonard freed, h newton and don mccullin. Fascinating and also kind of funny--most warn folks not to ever show their contact sheets as they're going through there own. Incredibly boring to the uninitated most likely.

Young-Ki

 

[Bertram2]

I don't think that letting oneself be slowed down by the equipment should be used as a means to think more before pressing the shutter. The ability to eschew snapshot mode does not come from being slower in taking the picture, but in being fast both at visualising the image in one's mind and in acting in such a way as to capture it on film. HCB didn't make all his great pictures by fiddling with his Leica....

I agree, Vincent, and I would like to add that IMHO this "snapshot mode" thing is misleadingly introduced and used here. There is no negative meaning connected to "snapshot" in general, tho it is sometimes used with a derisive meaning by non-photogs who use it as a kinda "no-art" category .
In fact alot of HCB's, Erwitt's, Winogrand's , Doisneau''s and Ronis' work WERE snapshots ! There is always more trouble than fun with all those categories.
The worst of all tho I've ever heard is "The spirit of HCB" (!!!) but that's another story. :angel: 😛

Bertram
BTW, watched your gallery (carefully)recently, beautiful photos, compliments !!