The Decisive Moment and Other Mutterings

[Sparrow]

As in not "Then", not "Next" but "Now"!

David

David
Yes, take out as many variables as you can, be as brave/sly/secret as possible and hit the button just before that “what happens next” moment (like in the game shows)
Wouldn’t you say that at that point there is way too much going on to apply classical never mind Gestalt theory to the image it’s in the back of the box or it’s not that’s your personal aesthetic, get unlucky that hypothetical guy in the hat hits you with his stick, get lucky you’ve got a good pic, get very lucky you get a good pic of the man swinging the stick.

Bill
Yes I suppose he may well have felt, as I do, vulnerable and intrusive during the process, and without seeing negs in the context of the roll we will never know what happened just prior and post his DM, an important leason I lernd as a young designer was not to show the client something you don’t want him to buy, it's second nature now, perhaps he edited in the same way do you think?
If you call it the “Zone” that makes it the DMZ and I’m back with my python firearms/Vietnam analogy again, excellent!!!

regards Stewart

 

[bmattock]

Bill
Yes I suppose he may well have felt, as I do, vulnerable and intrusive during the process, and without seeing negs in the context of the roll we will never know what happened just prior and post his DM, an important leason I lernd as a young designer was not to show the client something you don’t want him to buy, it's second nature now, perhaps he edited in the same way do you think?
If you call it the “Zone” that makes it the DMZ and I’m back with my python firearms/Vietnam analogy again, excellent!!!

regards Stewart

Stewart,

Although it is a bit outside of the topic, your point leads me back to when I began doing street shooting (which was not that long ago). I was nervous, I was afraid. I was timid and did not want to offend. I tried not to lurk, loom, or even be visible - this failed. I could sense the tension, I felt the stares of people as I passed by, the hostile looks. I tried smiling - but I look like a maniac with a Jack Nicholson grin when I do that. I tried asking permission with my gestures - even when I got it, I was no longer getting the shot I wanted - it became posed or forced. I tried long lenses, this felt worse. I began to feel that this was something I was not meant to do.

Then one day I was in a town I well knew, and just started taking photographs as I walked down the street. I knew the mayor, I knew many of the city employees - I felt that I was on 'safe' ground. And by relaxing *myself,* I observed that everyone around me relaxed to. I stopped giving off danger vibes, people's hackles quit going up. Ah. This helped. So I began taking the attitude with me everywhere I went - I belong here. I am not an outsider, and observer, you are not an experiment or a subject. We're all here together. Doing our various thing. I'm part of this tableau, ignore me. I'm working, I'm busy, and I have things to do. If I take your photo, hey, I'm just doing my job, pal.

This may not work for everyone, but it began to make the difference for me. I've always been social, not afraid in public situations, I teach classes and will (ahem) lecture at the drop of a hat. But taking photographs in public was hard for me, until I stopped thinking about anything but what I was doing, and began to project the aura that said "I'm supposed to be here."

This is what I call my 'zone'. I do it all the time, it is just that when I take a photo of a barn, well, the barn doesn't care whether or not I belong there.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[BrianShaw]

... I belong here. I am not an outsider, and observer, you are not an experiment or a subject. We're all here together. Doing our various thing. I'm part of this tableau, ignore me. I'm working, I'm busy, and I have things to do. If I take your photo, hey, I'm just doing my job, pal. ...

This is a good attitude to take... I try to use it as much as possible, too.

Once, however, it failed miserably. I was in a small Missouri town, smack in the middle of the rural Ozarks and wanted to take few pics of this cute town. One restaurant, a John Deere dealer, and a 3-story office building that had been converted to a motel. After about 20 minutes of wandering through the town (only took 10 minutes and I was on my second lap) when a local approached me and asked: " are you just visiting, or will you be leaving soon?" I lost my nerve and went back to the office-motel for the night.

 

[bmattock]

This is a good attitude to take... I try to use it as much as possible, too.

Once, however, it failed miserably. I was in a small Missouri town, smack in the middle of the rural Ozarks and wanted to take few pics of this cute town. One restaurant, a John Deere dealer, and a 3-story office building that had been converted to a motel. After about 20 minutes of wandering through the town (only took 10 minutes and I was on my second lap) when a local approached me and asked: " are you just visiting, or will you be leaving soon?" I lost my nerve and went back to the office-motel for the night.

Just ask "Say, how did this town get it's name, anyway?" You'll get a long discussion and probably an invitation to dinner, the neighbors will come around to fill you in on the town's history and famous residents. Documentarianism works. Just remember the karmic debt - if you accept their stories, you don't speak ill of them later. They're no longer yokels, they're friends.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[Sparrow]

Sorry Bill, didn’t make myself clear, distracted by Photoshop afraid, I was speculating on how he may have felt, not how you or I might, and what part latter editing and presentation may play in how he’s perceived today.
With regard to his actual images I was surprised when I reviewed them, admittedly for the ikon competition, how the pre-war pictures were so optimistic portraying an euro ideal with little regard to storm clouds that must have been gathering at the time, what do you think?
Regards Stewart

 

[bmattock]

Sorry Bill, didn’t make myself clear, distracted by Photoshop afraid, I was speculating on how he may have felt, not how you or I might, and what part latter editing and presentation may play in how he’s perceived today.
With regard to his actual images I was surprised when I reviewed them, admittedly for the ikon competition, how the pre-war pictures were so optimistic portraying an euro ideal with little regard to storm clouds that must have been gathering at the time, what do you think?
Regards Stewart

I must confess to being left somewhat cold by most of his pre-war images, I haven't spent any real time analyzing them. The post-war images sometimes thrill me, though. In that period of time, it is the Czech photographers whose work I find fascinating.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[Sparrow]

Thanks anyway Bill, perhaps someone else can explain? I’ll check out the Czech, not on my syllabus afraid, seen and enjoyed a few of the films however
Best regards Stewart

 

[macmac]

Wouldn’t you say that at that point there is way too much going on to apply classical never mind Gestalt theory to the image it’s in the back of the box or it’s not that’s your personal aesthetic, get unlucky that hypothetical guy in the hat hits you with his stick, get lucky you’ve got a good pic, get very lucky you get a good pic of the man swinging the stick.


Quite right! That's all there is
.

Best. David