BY CHANCE PHOTOS
Some of our most appreciated photography seems to have been a result of chance, of the photographer being at the right place at the right moment.
It may well be that the artist's eye and consciousness was needed to realize the moment was exactly at hand, the work he must do is to sense when the moment is upon him or her and, then, to edit out those elements which are not to be a part of the finished work's composition. The true artist with a camera, instinctively knows when there is too much or too little. The slightest angle; a subtle backing off to include more or closing in to clip the shot's edges - all those are essential mannerisms of picture takers. It is a phase of training which comes with experience, and is not found in formal instruction books in any meaningful way.
Recall your favorites. Be they the work done by a master of he art or by an amateur, it is the qualities of simplicity and exactness which hold the greatest charm for the viewer. The could be said that the old Oriental maxim of: ”Less is more” aptly applies to more than just flower arrangements.
News photographers, in particular, have to develop such a skill for taking story telling shots. The celebrated photograph of an exuberant young WW II soldier kissing a young girl during a Times Square in celebration of the War's end is good example and typical of a photographer catching a specific act in it's only, ever time. A series of such shots are contained within the film of the fiery crash of the “Hindenburg” at Lakehurst, New Jersey' and you, no doubt, have your favorites both in black and white and in color.
Editing, often unwittingly, is part of photographic perfection or “nearly perfect” because no two viewers thereof actually see such a thing in the same way.
We need to apply some of that editing to the picture of ourselves we present each day to others about us.
Someone is taking an estimate of you at every moment of our life as we share it with others about us.
A.L.M September 24, 2003 [c353wds]
