Don't know if I just spend too much time in the photography related parts of hive or what but process posts seem to be something of a fad as of late.
Not that I think that's a bad thing but it got me to thinking about my personal process, or lack thereof. I mostly just get myself into location/situations and just go with the flow. Pretty helpful, right? While I don't have a better explanation of how that works I thought it might be helpful to talk about some of the things that have shaped how I work.
One major influence and source of inspiration for me is Cheryl Dunn's documentary Everybody Street. It's about photographers who have made the streets of New York City a major subject of theirs. I saw it for the first time shortly after I got my first DSLR it had a major impact on me, I try to watch it periodically as something of a refresher. It was my first real exposure to street photography and seeing all the different photographers and hearing them talk about their approaches to photography made me want to go out and experiment for myself.
It's only an hour and a half long and available in its entirety for free on youtube (you can follow the link above, I'll also include the video at the end of this post) so give it a glance if you get a chance.
The other two influences that I'm going to mention are both books that I read long before I really got into photography. My background is in history, both books are by correspondents that covered the Vietnam War that I read in the context of studying that war.
John Laurence did three stints in Vietnam as a correspondent and his book about those experiences, The Cat From Hue, is a hell of a read. His experiences and his wrestling with how to cover the conflict resonated particularly strongly last year during the protests here. A good bit of the book talks about friends of Laurence who were some of the noted photographers of that war. Tim Page, Dana Stone, Sean Flynn were some of the main ones and also served as something of photography role models for me.
Michael Herr's Dispatches is the second book that has heavily influenced me. The book is probably the closest thing to a Hunter S Thompson dispatch from Vietnam we'll ever see, albeit with slightly less drug use. Herr was part of the same small circle of photographers and correspondents that Laurence kept company with and features many of the same people. Unlike Laurence's book, this one is somewhat fictional (some characters are inventions/composites) but that does little to change the book's impact.
For anybody who has seen the movies Full Metal Jacket or Apocalypse Now parts of the book will seem familiar. Herr co-wrote the screenplay for the first and worked on the narration for the second and elements of the book were used in both movies.
When I'm out shooting and particularly with the recent protests, these three heavily influenced the how's and why's of what I shot. Not in the sense of 'What would Jack Laurence do?' so much as how thought about what I shot and what message I was trying to send or what emotion I sought to capture.
Enough about what has influenced me, what has influenced your photography?
Pinging @victorbz, I'm curious what you think of the documentary
I sit here thinking about saying something...Then realise I don't want to get in a controversy. And still... It bothers me how much I censor myself here.
Process posts are mostly boring and I rarely/watch/look at them. Maybe because I'm too old to think of this place as where I get an "education" And yet there is a lot I could learn. Especially about lighting and studio photography. I greatly admire street photography and live in area where I would like to do it. I mostly don't because i'm a coward and don't want to get shot or beaten up or in some argument over turf and territory.
I grew up watching movies and looking at magazines and reading books. Going to art museums. Studying paintings. I didn't even get a computer or a cell phone until I was over 50 years old. I don't imagine my experience and influences are of much relevance to younger people.
One thing I do occasionally is watch films with the sound off. Antonioni, Godard, Wells, etc. I like to take stills of them. Haha. Yes it's goofy but I just like it for fun. Well, I've rambled on far too much. I think I probably shouldn't write anything most of the time. Especially when hive is tanking 😮 Thank you for putting up with my nonsense
I feel that, I regularly catch myself wondering "do I want to make friends or just piss people off?" I did a lot more self censoring in the past but last year largely put an end to that. In my experience it usually balances out anyways, for every person you tick off there's usually someone else who appreciates what you're doing.
I have similar feelings about process photos, most of the ones I've come across just aren't relevant to what I'm doing. I'm sure they're helpful for some people but they just don't do much for me. Still, some of the best 'education' comes from unconventional sources in my experience. I mostly learn the hard way, even if you tell me the right way to do it, I've got to do it the wrong way first before I remember it.
Hey, knowing your risk tolerance is important. I've been in some lively situations in pursuit of photos and even if nothing goes terribly wrong it still takes a toll. The Cat From Hue gets into that a bit, Laurence eventually left Vietnam but it didn't leave him.
I have to disagree, there's always something to be learned from different perspectives and experiences. My partner has a background in art, mine is in history, we see and shoot things rather differently but also learn from the other's way of working. They mostly shoot film, I'm almost exclusively digital but the differences mostly seem to make for a nice synergy. At least until they're waiting for their film to get back and I'm already bored of editing...
Stills of films, I love it. Now I'm gonna have to do that with Metropolis. Hey, it can't be any worse than 2018 was 😎 It'll get bad, then it'll get better again. Thanks for dropping by! It's nice to have something substantial to respond to.
Oh yeah... I mostly regret my complaining haha
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Awesome, thanks so much!
The pictures really protray a lot.
Cool.
I may have to try the lemon thing, never heard of that before.
I don't read much anymore, at least in book format and don't think I've ever read a book on the documentary photography process. Both of the books I mentioned are primarily about the war and the authors' experiences covering it. In their own way they're about trying to understand life and what is happening as well, albeit in the narrow context of the war.
I think we learned photography about the same way, I just picked up a camera and started experimenting with it. I will check those out!
I mostly work alone too although I like to go shooting with my partner. They have a rather different way of looking at and shooting things which tends to work out nicely, we both get new ideas from how the other is doing things.
Love the shot!
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@coloneljethro, you've been given LUV from @victorbz.
Check the LUV in your H-E wallet. (1/1)