December 14 2014

I wish I had more time to dedicate to this blog. There are many projects I would like to begin here, but the reality is that this is always a rushed job. I do it to keep a record, however short it may be, of my posts to Flickr. It helps to attach something more to the images. Hopefully, over Christmas I might get a chance to do a few different things on here.

Choice makes life difficult. What I like about the iPhone is that there are limited choices when using the camera. Not so with the DSLR. I shot a series of images in an underground train station while in Berlin and some of the images I like, but was amazed to see that I had the ISO up to 3,200. I cannot understand why. I always use ambient light and do play a little with ISO, but to push it up that far means the images can be very noisy.

I watched a documentary on Martin Parr recently and he was forceful when he said that his photography was subjective:

“I don’t believe that photography is ever objective- it is always going to be a subjective. When we decide to take a photograph, we make a judgement call on what focal length to use, how to frame the photograph, and what to photograph. Even more importantly, we decide what not to photograph.”

His point struck me. When constructing a frame, 99.99% of the time there will be a missing element or missing elements. It is rare for things to collide in harmony for a photograph. Sometimes, I find myself waiting and hoping that the elements will emerge. They seldom do. The shot below is an example. The guy with the dreadlocks had a swagger as he approached me. He saw me with the camera instinctively pointed at him and he did not like it.

– How rude you are! People used to ask before they took photographs.

– Don’t you like it? Do you want me to delete it?

– No, but you should ask first.

– What I am trying to do is to get candid images. If I stopped and asked you, it would change everything. I’m not being rude.

– You should ask.

– OK, I’m asking. Is it OK to take your photo?

– Yes.

The train pulled into the station. He got on. I stood back and framed the shot. He did not look at me. I waited. The man on the right looked at me intensely. I waited. Then he looked at me. I clicked.

Eye contact. In life, we are always looking for a connection. Recognition that we are here; here together right now. It all passes in an instant. What is it we share? I don’t know.