Only a chance of photos, the forecasters never do say definitely. In my last blog post, “Blinded By The Light”, I was grumbling about the weather, no change there then, though in my defence it wasn’t really about that. I’ve learnt to simply surrender and come to terms with the vagaries of the English climate. No, It was more about the lack of creativity or simply laziness when the sun shines and my over reliance on light, contrast and shadows. I did say, and I may as well repeat it, that obviously I fully understand light is always involved with photography. This blog post is brief update. I’m keeping it brief because the conversation with my wife usually goes like this… Her: “I read your new blog”. Me: “Oh yes”. Her: ‘Boring”.
That last post was written because I felt a need to re-examine or challenge my Street Photography. We all know that making a photo in bright sun is simple. A shaft of light caused by the shadows from buildings, one person caught amongst that high contrast black and white geometry. Expose for the highlights and Click: the easiest shot you’ll ever make. Especially if you re-visit the same city regularly for your Street sessions, you know exactly where the light falls and at what time. I wonder what happens to ‘Street Photographers’ who rely purely on that style when it’s cloudy?
I watched the new Beatles documentary, Peter Jackson’s “Get Back” a few days ago. The runtime is over seven hours, has no commentary and made up entirely from clips filmed during the making of their last album “Let It Be” in 1970. It leads to that famous live rooftop performance and ultimately their break up. We get to see the creative process, three weeks together writing and rehearsing new songs. George Harrison was becoming increasingly frustrated with Paul McCartney telling him what he expected from him on the guitar. For that we might read what Social Media dictates with Street Photography. George’s reply to Paul by the way was: “It’s the same old crap”.
I can tell you that when the sun isn’t shining it’s a different proposition altogether. To begin with I wasn’t constantly bumping into other Street Photographers. Sometimes you can’t swing a camera without hitting a ‘Flâneur’ in Bath. On the whole they’re a very nice bunch. Although I get the suspicion that some aren’t necessarily Flâneurs, (“The passionate wanderer, observer of the city”). Not if it’s raining it appears, perhaps a few aren’t so passionate as I thought. I can’t blame them, you need real dedication when it’s windy, wet and chilly. The light of course is totally flat and that’s the challenge. The light isn’t dictating, drawing your eye, demanding attention, instead we’re watching the people.
My usual settings on the Leica are an aperture of f/11, shutter speed 1/1000, ISO 800 and Zone focussed at 6 feet. Good to go for sunny streets and shooting as I walk along. I tried shooting a video on my iPhone, talking about all of this and the changes I’d need to make. I wanted to do something for my YouTube channel. Essentially what you get from it is me getting wet whilst my hair is blowing around all over the place, you can’t even hear what I’m saying because of the wind noise. This really is different territory. Time to stop up: Slow the shutter speed down 1/500, ISO 2000 and f/5.6. Talking of ‘stops’ this means that I’m going to need to stop to take a photo, I mostly do, but sometimes I like to walk through a crowd of people and click away, 1/1000 allows for all that movement from me and the subject matter and f/11 gets it all in focus.
We already know that I’m basically a Greek God and therefore when I walk amongst the multitude they look at me with reverence and admiration. Now I’m static they really can get a good look at this glorious being. Hold it, this can’t be right, these two have more of a look of disdain than awe. Maybe I’ve over estimated my magnificence…Seriously, I have no problem with people looking down the lens with Street Photography or down their noses at me, it’s going to happen, mostly though they ignore me.
Where are we going with all this? Well, everything Street Photography related in this post is from an hour and a half walking around Bath. Not relying on that contrasty bright light definitely focuses the mind on what it should be on. We’re interested in people, their interactions with others and the environment they inhabit. Observing the mundane, attempting to frame it to a reasonable composition, creating a narrative and something that causes the viewer to stop and consider. We’re not copying the same formulaic crap, we’re doing our own thing, we’re observing. I’m not suggesting that you’re necessarily seeing any of that here, but ultimately it’s the plan for my future photography. There’s an old saying ‘A penny for your thoughts”. I wonder about what life and story these people have, their worries and so forth. What are they thinking about? Unfortunately I don’t have any godlike abilities, Greek or otherwise, to soak up their pain. If I did and particularly with the two shots of the ladies sat on the benches I could hold them and say “ Don’t worry I’ve got you, just let all of it go”. I’m pretty sure a slap across the face would be the absolute best I could hope for.
It was a good exercise. It did push me to look a little closer and work harder to find a photo. I had to pause and consider the frame, something I always used to do, lately not so much with my Street Photography which leads me down the path of the predictable. There’s one good reason why I try to avoid bad weather and that’s because I’m on my motorbike. Riding in cold and wet weather isn’t fun, but I can tell you that I enjoyed every single second of this trip on and off the bike. Here’s the rest of the photos before I begin to wrap things up:
It not the first time I’ve been out shooting in flat light, of course I have, many times before. This time was different because I did so purposely. We’ll leave it there.
You may wonder what this last little piece has to do with a post about Street Photography. The answer is nothing whatsoever, however this blog is kind of a journal, a photographic one. I can look back at some stage. Last week I went down to Devon to look after my dad whilst my sister and brother-in-law took a much deserved short break. He flits between lucidity and slight confusion, but still remains wonderful in my eyes. I’m not sure what world he lives in sometimes, but as always he seems perfectly happy and relaxed in either his or ours. Memories are mixed up, we know the subconscious can’t distinguish between 1930, 1955 or 2021, now the conscious mind of my dad can’t either. He did think it was a small world and an amazing coincidence that I was working there with him, asked if I knew the owners and was that how I got the job. I try not to correct him, instead reply that I knew the owners and that it was wonderful to be working together again. Ten minutes later he knows I’m familiar because he’s suddenly realised I’m his son, his daughter and son-in-law are the owners of the house, it’s not a hotel. He looks at his watch a lot and announces the time every ten minutes or so. I don’t know why it’s so important this time thing, I find it annoying, but at the same time heartbreaking and so very poignant.
Finally here’s the November monthly YouTube Slideshow. It was a struggle to select many Street photos, I haven’t been particularly proactive this month.
As always my sincere thanks go to anyone taking the time to read this blog.
All images can be opened by clicking on the thumbnails and are made using a Leica M with Summicron 28mm Lens fitted. The exception being the colour photo of my dad: Noctilux 50mm.
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