David_Manning
Well-known
David Høgsholt is a Danish photographer for Reportage by Getty. Some of David's work:
David's Getty page
Here is his website: http://www.davidhogsholt.com/
I had a good conversation with him regarding intimacy and shooting style. I'll post his reply, which I think is enlightening...
"Getting that level of intimacy into my work is exactly what I always strive for. I have begun teaching workshops and I always talk about how the specific action or look of a situation is not the most important thing in a good photo - it is how it feels being in that situation which makes the strong pic. Case in point, Mia - it is not the fact that she gets a shot of cocaine to her neck but how she feels about it which is important. That said, I do like to have specific impnformatio in my pics as well as I am out to tell stories which I want to communicate to a lot of people. But if the viewer feels the image in his or hers heart or stomach more than on an intellectual level I think the impact is bigger and longer lasting.
But the problem is I can't really tell how I manage to get those pics. It is def a lot of time spent, so I have a lot of frames to choose from. And I have also tried to strengthen my ability to recognize these emotions and shoot when they are the strongest - which is sometimes in very brief moments. I am basically "staring" a lot at people's facial expressions and then I move slowly and don't mind sitting around people for a long time.
But let's talk tech stuff.
The Ladyboys are shot on Mamiya 7 w. mostly a 65mm lens. A lot of flash cuz the lenses are slow and people are on the move or in badly lit rooms. In later years, I have tried doing less flash as it does become a bit too fashion looking. I think cuz it is medium format, colors and flash it looks like that but I have tried getting away from it.
The squares are on a old Rolleiflex often with closeup lenses. It is an amazing camera to work with as ppl let down their guard a lot easier in front of that old camera. I suspect it is because you are not kinda pointing your hole face and cam and lens directly at them but only this weird old cam whilst your body and head is lowered. Basically, you become less obtrusive and even a bit submissive while shooting that cam. I have a Thailand based friend who have shot the Rollei in Asia for years and he even thinks that because of Buddhism and the way you lower your head shooting the rollei that people see it as you paying respect. There could be some truth to that.
Film is Fuji color neg 400/800 sometime pushed a stop. Then scanned on imacon scanners.
Mia started out on film. All sorts, whatever I could get my hands on. Then it became dig, but I photoshop so that it is hard to tell the difference.
With dig, I shoot raw and convert in Lightroom and then a lot of post in PS.
Lenses are mostly a fixed 28mm or a 35mm. I find with Mia, I can get so close that 28mm becomes my go to lens. On other stories, 35mm is more appropriate.
I have the Fuji X100. I like the files but it is too slow and controls a bit weird. If they sorted that out in the Pro, it could be a great camera. Heard that autofocus is still not up there though... But not sure. The great thing is that you can actually shoot it as precise as an SLR cuz of the hybrid viewfinder. If Leica were cool they'd incorporate that into the M10, which I think they haven't. For that reason alone the Fuji Pro is a very interesting cam. And it focuses much closer than any Leica which is needed sometimes."
David's Getty page
Here is his website: http://www.davidhogsholt.com/
I had a good conversation with him regarding intimacy and shooting style. I'll post his reply, which I think is enlightening...
"Getting that level of intimacy into my work is exactly what I always strive for. I have begun teaching workshops and I always talk about how the specific action or look of a situation is not the most important thing in a good photo - it is how it feels being in that situation which makes the strong pic. Case in point, Mia - it is not the fact that she gets a shot of cocaine to her neck but how she feels about it which is important. That said, I do like to have specific impnformatio in my pics as well as I am out to tell stories which I want to communicate to a lot of people. But if the viewer feels the image in his or hers heart or stomach more than on an intellectual level I think the impact is bigger and longer lasting.
But the problem is I can't really tell how I manage to get those pics. It is def a lot of time spent, so I have a lot of frames to choose from. And I have also tried to strengthen my ability to recognize these emotions and shoot when they are the strongest - which is sometimes in very brief moments. I am basically "staring" a lot at people's facial expressions and then I move slowly and don't mind sitting around people for a long time.
But let's talk tech stuff.
The Ladyboys are shot on Mamiya 7 w. mostly a 65mm lens. A lot of flash cuz the lenses are slow and people are on the move or in badly lit rooms. In later years, I have tried doing less flash as it does become a bit too fashion looking. I think cuz it is medium format, colors and flash it looks like that but I have tried getting away from it.
The squares are on a old Rolleiflex often with closeup lenses. It is an amazing camera to work with as ppl let down their guard a lot easier in front of that old camera. I suspect it is because you are not kinda pointing your hole face and cam and lens directly at them but only this weird old cam whilst your body and head is lowered. Basically, you become less obtrusive and even a bit submissive while shooting that cam. I have a Thailand based friend who have shot the Rollei in Asia for years and he even thinks that because of Buddhism and the way you lower your head shooting the rollei that people see it as you paying respect. There could be some truth to that.
Film is Fuji color neg 400/800 sometime pushed a stop. Then scanned on imacon scanners.
Mia started out on film. All sorts, whatever I could get my hands on. Then it became dig, but I photoshop so that it is hard to tell the difference.
With dig, I shoot raw and convert in Lightroom and then a lot of post in PS.
Lenses are mostly a fixed 28mm or a 35mm. I find with Mia, I can get so close that 28mm becomes my go to lens. On other stories, 35mm is more appropriate.
I have the Fuji X100. I like the files but it is too slow and controls a bit weird. If they sorted that out in the Pro, it could be a great camera. Heard that autofocus is still not up there though... But not sure. The great thing is that you can actually shoot it as precise as an SLR cuz of the hybrid viewfinder. If Leica were cool they'd incorporate that into the M10, which I think they haven't. For that reason alone the Fuji Pro is a very interesting cam. And it focuses much closer than any Leica which is needed sometimes."
David_Manning
Well-known
I was thinking this was interesting info. I probably gave the post a really boring title.