Black & White Photos of New York

Wherein I contemplate what this photographic experience is about.

Why press the shutter at a certain time and place? What are you aiming at? Why do you step back a little to get the shot? It happens quickly, too quickly to contemplate in real time. But over decades there are emerging patters in your work. These following ideas are based on my own feelings about the craft, but I think they apply to most photography.

There are two polarities that are connected. None of what follows is either or. Just tendencies.

1. Something happens. This could be a bird in flight. A couple holding hands. A man being shot. Something happens. It’s there for just about anyone to see. You see it and want to capture it. In my own work, examples that fall into this camp: a girl skipping; a couple in a restaurant holding hands; birds flying across the sky. You can compare it to the verb in language. Something happens.

2. The second category: the idea of the photograph, the story, is not as clear. And it is arranged by the photographer. Often these shots are about feelings, or designs. Example, the Man Walking Up Steps. Yes, there is something urbane about him; but the shot is about how the light strikes him, how he steps up to meet his own shadow. A million people may have seen this man at this moment and not seen anything worth snapping. So this is the other end of the spectrum. Here you find a ton of nature photography. Most of Ansel Adams falls into this camp. A few steps to the left, a longer lens, wait until the sun hits that leaf. The idea is in the photographers mind, and can be there for a while before the shutter clicks. Or, it can happen in the instant. This is what I’ll call the transitive verb picture. Something is happening - but you aren’t exactly sure what. Energy is being transfered from one spot to another.

And then, as I say - there are images that fall in between. Poets Walk. This is a static shot that has literally been shot tens of thousands of times. But not at this particular time. The paving stones have long been removed. It’s not always empty like this. But there are two people with umbrellas. They are doing something. The photographer uses them to give scale to the trees, but also likes to have human beings in his pictures, no matter how small. This picture leans towards the transitive verb example - moody - dark - romantic - but something is happening, no matter how small - and that is that the couple are leaving. So again - there is a moment - and the couple must have started from behind the camera because the space between the camera and them is empty. But is this a story? I would say no. Is this a straight-ahead verb? No. Had the couple come running towards the camera and jumped into the air - and yes I have shots like that) then you have the verb picture. The clear story. You can say this is about a couple jumping in the air. They are so happy.

But that same couple, a hundred yards away, holding hands - now the photographer has decided that the picture isn’t really about them. They are there to help with the mood. But that’s it. The picture is more about design.

(2B) There is one hybrid that should be mentioned. That is when the photographer interferes or changes the picture by their presence, or any other thing they may do. The photographer pointing the camera at a passerby and waiting to be noticed is now not only arranging the frame, but trying to arrange the expression. A frame that may have been too transitive, i.e. nothing really happening story-wise, can wait a second and the story becomes about how the individual looks when they see they are being photographed. Since the photographer has been the cause of the expression, I will put it in it’s own subcategory.

Okay - so there you have it. My theory of two polarities in picture taking. Am I aware of it while I’m walking around shooting. Generally no. But maybe it helps in understanding something about what is going on in the subconscious world that is connected to the eye and the shutter finger.

The photographer sees both polarities. What they decide to capture - so many factors go into that. Can you describe why you feel the way you do at any moment? When you can describe that, then you have an idea of why the shutter is clicked as the camera moves through space and time.

Which brings up the subject of what I’ll call something new. You can see that everyone in the art world wants something new. Or as Ralph Kramden said, That’s what the people want, something new and different. (It happens that he’s mistaken dog food for a new sort of Hors d’oeuvre in that episode). Happens in the art world as well. More later…