My method has evolved a lot since I left Sydney.
- One of the things I was embarrassed about was that I’d hide my camera, shoot like a coward from my chest, or down near my thigh. That didn’t necessarily have to be the case, but it was what I felt. Yes, I was getting closer and closer to people with the advantage that they were never threatened and they didn’t ‘act’, yet I didn’t have the balls to raise the camera to my eye and compose. Now I’m quite open about taking a photo. This results in a lot more confrontation, but that’s something I’m learning to deal with. The photo is worth it. Ethically, I don’t have a problem. The camera is first an extension of my eye (as Cartier Bresson says), but more, it is an extension of my memory. If I can see a person, I have the right to photograph them, to remember them. Shooting through the viewfinder has meant:
- That I frame better (or at all!),
- my timing is improved,
- I can reshoot if I didn’t get what I want,
- I can focus more accurately
- I get a mix of candid, and ‘camera aware’ photos.
- Colour. I understand better how colour works and what I like and how to reproduce what I like: a neutral (slightly desaturated) look which doesn’t overpower whilst still offering the realism and emotion of colour. This took a long time and I’m only part of the way there to being truly happy. For example, I’m still battling with how absolutely unforgiving colour is in the wrong light. Without strong, direct sunlight, there is little need to shoot colour, it comes out like drab muck.
- Deliberate practice. The first aspect that I’ve been concentrating on deliberately is focusing, as misfocuses were causing many rejected images. Shooting in the correct mode, and seeing through the viewfinder, and sooting instantly without a long pre-focus has resulted in more subjects in correct focus. I’ve also become faster and faster at shooting and my scanning and reaction times have improved a lot. I can devote myself a lot more to deliberate practice and statistics, something I’ve been procrastinating on. It’s hard to be so clinical with yourself. I have many other aspects of my technique that I have to systematically attack.
- Shooting and working consistently. I’ve shot 2500 pictures in the past 20 days. I’m shooting often and for 3 to 4 hours a day. I get tired and I can’t do more than this. It is physically and mentally taxing here in Dhaka as the weather is so extreme. I spend at least another 4 hours a day reading or writing or thinking about photography. I’m very happy about doing this as I want to always approach my work mindful of what I’ve done and how to improve it, and how to communicate it.
Posted 2 years ago
