Intuition or Intent?

[Doug]

Immediate goals when you go out for some photographing. Do you have a plan in mind or just wing it?

I was reading this interview with Alex Webb about his recent project in Chicago. Here’s the link and the first question and answer: http://blog.leica-camera.com/leica-and-magnum/leica-magnum-alex-webb-in-chicago/

“Q: What was your goal with the photograph featuring an Obama t-shirt where the wearer’s face is in the shadows aside from the glaring lens of his sunglasses? It’s a very striking photograph that reminds me of a graphic novel with the sunglasses.

“A: I did not have a goal in mind. In fact, I do not have goals in mind when I photograph. I respond to what I see before me. The creation of the image happens in a split second, before I am fully rationally conscious of what it is that I am photographing. The act is intuitive, instinctive and non-rational.”

The interviewer seemed to assume that Webb had deliberate conscious intent for each photo as he made it. While indulging in a little “art speak” later on, Webb expresses an intuitive methodology that sounds very familiar! Still, there must be some forethought involved, in choosing where and when to go shooting, and why. Mustn’t there?

What about your approach to street, documentary, travel?

 

[FrankS]

I wing it and approach it intuitively, responding to what I see.

 

[Pablito]

Still, there must be some forethought involved, in choosing where and when to go shooting, and why. Mustn’t there?

Yeah but it's FOREthought. when you are working you rely on instinct. But an instinct formed by the full scope of your intellectual capacity.

 

[gns]

I'd like to be as intuitive as possible. Just follow my nose.
I like what Webb says. I like this guy's ideas, too. and his photos...
http://www.sfmoma.org/explore/multimedia/videos/296

Gary

 

[Keith]

Sure .... Ansel Adams just stumbled into Yosemite and said ... "Holy sh!t, where's my camera!"

There is always intent IMO ... whether it be a millisecond or a year of planning.

 

[mdarnton]

Re: the Alex Webb photos: I guess street photography as exercised by the modern guys is just too much like masturbation for me to appreciate as an observer......

 

[nikon_sam]

A quote I'll always remember from Dewitt Jones (Outdoor Photo)
"If you go out to shoot trees and trees aren't happening but clouds are...shoot clouds..."
That's how I do it...Have a plan but don't be married to it...

I have a "Let's see what we can see..." attitude...

 

[finguanzo]

I go out for a walk everyday, if something presents itself, I just happen to have a camera with me...

 

[mfunnell]

Sure .... Ansel Adams just stumbled into Yosemite and said ... "Holy sh!t, where's my camera!"

I prefer this version of history! It should be true.

...Mike

 

[benlees]

Always both for me...

 

[Bob Michaels]

Immediate goals when you go out for some photographing. Do you have a plan in mind or just wing it?

I was reading this interview with Alex Webb about his recent project in Chicago. ......................................

.................................

What about your approach to street, documentary, travel?

I believe Alex Webb has a definite plan when he works. It was not just coincidence that for 25 years he spent much time photographing within a mile of the US - Mexico border. It was not just coincidence that he and his wife spent time wandering across Cuba. It was not just coincidence that he was photographing for a period in Chicago.

Now, he certainly is intuitive on a second by second basis when something potentially interesting arises. He photographs people and must sense them and the environment, then recognize potential photos and pounce when they appear.

All of us who photograph unposed people must be intuitive on a short term basis. But some will always have an idea of a series and try to put ourselves where and when we think those sort of photos may present themselves. (That is me) Others will have nothing in mind and go out hoping something (anything) interesting presents itself to be photographed. (That is not me)

 

[Bob Michaels]

Sure .... Ansel Adams just stumbled into Yosemite and said ... "Holy sh!t, where's my camera!" .......................

OTOH, driving home from a paid gig photographing for the Department of the Interior while passing through Hernandez New Mexico near dusk, he spots a full moon and the last traces on daylight illuminating crosses in a graveyard next to an old church. And he actually says something similar to "Holy sh!t, where's my camera!"

Maybe the real answer is "it depends"

 

[Sparrow]

Well, it took me years of practice to reach this level of spontaneity

 

[rxmd]

Well, it took me years of practice to reach this level of spontaneity

that's the key - you have to be quite professional in order not to care and still get consistently good output.

 

[kossi008]

Honing my photography skills does not mean I have a plan when I leave the house to go take pictures. Much less so when I'm just taking my camera along just in case... And I never compose a picture intentionally - I find I get consistently worse results the more I think about it.

So for me: complete intuition 99% of the time. YMMV...

 

[lynnb]

'Work from your intuition, and analyse with your intellect.
...intuition is... a judgement system that operates without immediately available conscious evidence. (It) draws upon subliminal knowledge and allows the unfiltered, unfamiliar, and unknown to enter your work...'
- Kit White, 101 Things To Learn In Art School, ISBN 9780262016216, The MIT Press.

That quote says it better than I can. I think most photographers work both ways, and sometimes both ways at the same time.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

I carry a camera everywhere. If I see something interesting, I stop and photograph it. Sometimes that is not possible because the light is wrong, or the weather is bad. In those cases, I make a mental note, and return another time.

Once I get out the camera and begin working, I have an idea in mind of how the finished photograph will look. I don't "photograph things to see how they look photographed", as Gerry Winogrand famously claimed he did. I already know what it'll look like photographed. Its just a matter of doing the work.

 

[FrankS]

Well, it took me years of practice to reach this level of spontaneity

Right on .

 

[robert blu]

It depends, sometimes I work on a project for which I need some specific photos and in this case I'll look for them. I choice the camera and the lens suitable to it, and of course the correct film. But sometimes I just react to what I see. As example since a few years I'm traveling on a regular basis to Germany and in this case I just photograph what hits me. But in this case editing will be hard later. But even when I work on a specific project when I choice the location I'm rational, but once there with the camera in my hand I switch my behavior and I follow my instinct, or the force...
robert

 

[Steve M.]

If I'm not in the house setting up a shot or shooting a portrait, which isn't that often. I find that when I want to shoot something, looking for a shot is better. I get better shots, anyway. But photography is also about being in the right place at the right time very often, so some of it depends on plain old luck.

Just to show a different angle, when I choose a subject and decide how to shoot it, it's not a lengthy process. Everything is in the viewfinder for me. If I pick up my pen or pencil to draw something when I'm out it isn't like this at all. There's no viewfinder to crop the composition, so I have to decide, at the outset and while drawing, how it's going to look. And of course it takes much longer. Even if it's a quick sketch, I have to do everything. There's no button to push to capture the scene, I have to create it from scratch. I find the two activities are completely different from each other.