May. 2000
President's
Message
Portrait of Steve Scott
Article: Seeing the Big Picture
Seeing the Big Picture
- Bill Talarowski
Part 1
Over the many years that I have been in photography, I can't tell you how many times I have been asked, "how did you get that shot" or "how did you do that"? Often the answer is very simple, sometimes it is complicated and convoluted. But no matter what route is taken to get the final image, it all takes “previsualization”. That is, how are you going to get in the camera what you have going on in your head. Having a good grounding in things such as exposure, selection of lenses, point of focus, composition, mood, use of the image and many others are all very important in forming your final image. Without this grounding in the basics to help sharpen your selection process, you will never be able to make images that reflect your inner thinking and give you the biggest rush of emotion and satisfaction. This is going to be your image from now on so you better do it right. If you don't go through this process, surely you will produce nothing more than snap shots with little meaning or interest.
One of the biggest examples of poor thinking is when we make images of what is loosely called “tripod holes”; i.e., places where a picture has been taken over and over again and is a proven winner in the competitions. This may be a quick route to instant gratification but a false one to you personally. The famous Jenny farm, Babcock mill, and the Amish corn cribs are all examples of this type of image. Not that there is anything wrong in taking these kinds of images, but can you truly say it is your image when many others have taken the same thing and all you did was set the camera to automatic. Use these chances instead to sharpen your skills and perfect your own technique and thinking. By all means, take these pictures, but add your thought and personality to the picture. Try shooting at different times of the day, at different angles or in different weather conditions in a quest to achieve something with your personal touch in the image.
I am reminded of a experience early in my career at the famous Jenny Farm shot outside of Woodstock, VT. I had thought a lot about how I was going to work this popular image and inject my touch to a scene that has been taken thousands of times. I thought early, moody and homey fit the subject and I felt good about this decision. I arrived long before sunup in hopes that I could get the farm with early morning fog in the meadow and if the Good Lord was with me, some wispy, white smoke coming out of the chimney with lights from the kitchen reflecting on the newly fallen blue snow. And sure enough it happened! There it was, in all its glory, taking my breath away with all the beauty laid out before me. Knowing this condition wouldn't last, I shot in a frenzy, trying first this lens, then that filter, bracketing my exposures, trying to capture and nurture what my inner emotions were feeling. Much too soon it was over. The sun peeked over the nearby mountain dissipating the cold fog and wiping the yellow lighting of the kitchen from the blue, cold snow.
Then I realized I had visitors, arriving by the car load to take their pictures. Before long there were sixty or more people trying to get a shot. As I trekked back to the car through the heavy snow, warm feelings bounced through my head about the whole experience. I was tired from the emotion of it all but satisfied with what I had done. I looked back and saw one person after another standing in line at the same spot I had selected. When one was finished, he would back out and sixty people would take one step to the right and take their crack at immortality. They all left saying they got a good one, forgetting for the moment that so did sixty others. If they had only gotten there an hour earlier they would have been enraptured at what had been for one glorious moment, the real Jenny Farm.
As we travel this beautiful world recording our images, most are of scenes or objects that we stumble on as we search for the elusive perfect picture. If you’re lucky, the shot is great and needs little more to be added to it. But most shots need something more and this is where previsualization comes in. What are your feelings deep down inside of you? Does the image prick at your inner self? Is the light right? Is the composition correct? Is this the exact time to give birth to the scene or do you decide instead to just back off, put your camera away, and maybe just make some mental notes to come back on another day to play.
This is why photography is so challenging and fulfilling. For only a brief period of time everything is possible. You have escaped into a new dimension where there is complete peace and where you can accomplish all that is possible by just trying. In turn you are replenished and renewed with a spirit to see what else is over the distant hill.
Next month: Part 2, More on Seeing Pictures