Originally posted by stevebrot You are very welcome. I have a few theories about the creative process in photography. The above quote would be one bullet point. A few more:
- Practice learning to "see" and perceive from the perspective of the camera
- Actively apply the above as you experience the world...be open and observant
- If at all possible, when "seen" don't let the moment pass without doing the capture
I think these fit me like a glove.
Originally posted by Nesster Good points all around. I see two major streams: the Woody Allen (80% of success is showing up) method, where you shoot shoot shoot. The important part is where you select the shot to show. Come to think of it, this was how Robert Frank and Henri Cartier-Bresson did it. The other stream is to be ever more meticulous with setup and framing and staging and so on...
Myself, I have to let go in lots of instances, especially in street photography. It's not so easy to stick a camera in front of everybody interesting I run into. Size of the camera helps, but it's still hard. I'm kinda' shy, too.
Sometimes I wonder Henri Cartier-Bresson would still be using a film camera these days or he would go digital. His concept was to be inconspicuous. Practically, everybody heard about him but nobody knew how he looked like.
Another point is that in those golden days of photography, the photographer was an important member of the community. Nobody minded having his picture taken by a complete stranger. In general, people were more kind and welcoming. One used to hope seing his picture in the newspaper.
These days, everybody takes pictures and videos. Phones, P&S, DSLR's. A huge attack upon the everybody's privacy is undergoing. You see it everywhere, and people (sometimes myself) regard the photographers as pests. I am ashamed about the current status, but I have to trap in time those moments. It's a form of addiction.
I did a small experiment last summer.
Held the camera at waist level, and pressed the trigger. Not happy with the results, mainly because the distance scale on the old 50/1,8 Cosina is off. This came out best:
See, not the best example of street photography.