1/1250 sec at f/6.3, focal length: 86mm, ISO 200 - June 15, 2004, 4:08pm PDT
Photographed with Nikon D100, ED AF Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8 D, hand held
This image was taken 4 years ago while I was studying photojournalism at Brooks Institute of Photography in Ventura, CA. It's not an exemplary image of the "decisive moment", but I do enjoy the composition and light quite a bit.
I regard street/documentary photography as one of the higher forms of photography as well as the most important. That being said, I don't do much of it (or any of it as of right now for that matter) because it's so damn difficult. Not technically difficult, but difficult in that I have a hard time capturing intimate, real moments that lend themselves to a larger narrative. People tend to tense up or smile too much when a camera is around. It becomes easier to stand too far back (like in this image) or leave people out of the frame altogether, or to shoot too loosely from the hip, and that's not good. It's not the subjects fault that this is how they respond to a camera, it's my own, as the photographer. I'm not doing my job to become a part of what I'm photographing, to allow the subject to not even notice the camera. And I don't mean being sneaky, I mean not being creepy.
With THAT being said, I do have a few projects in mind that I'd like to work on in the coming year. We'll see how it goes.
Now some links to others that are much better at this than I am.
www.brooksnppa.org - the caliber of work coming from these students now is pretty impressive.
Matt Mallams - and his blog. Oh and he's a Brooks alumni.
Damon Winter
James Nachtwey
and of course Henri Cartier-Bresson
There's plenty more, but it's getting late...
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