Wednesday, March 09, 2011

Five Moments in Seven Seconds

8:04:57 PM 
New York, New York


8:04:59 PM

8:05:01 PM

8:05:02 PM

8:05:04 PM

When I teach workshops in view camera technique, a theme I emphasize is that you can capture "action" with a big tripod-mounted camera if you look for things around you that are "90% of a picture." When something you see in the world is that close to working, set up the camera and wait to see if the other 10% comes walking in. It's astonishing how often it does.

A similar thing can happen in the speeded up world of hand-camera shooting. Waiting for the light to change at 36th and 3rd, I noticed that the sign for the "Euro Diner" was cycling at a quick pace through a series of colors. I also noticed that several pedestrians were heading down 3rd toward the corner, as a cluster of vehicles came downhill on 36th from the west. So I made five exposures, watching for the color changes in the sign, the action of the approaching walkers, and the approach of the vehicles.

Between the fourth and fifth frame the lead pedestrian whips out his cell phone to answer a call—perfect.

2 comments:

Martina said...

It's so interesting to see night shots at your blog - doesn't happen so often. (besides the toilet, that was interesting, too ;-))

Carl Weese said...

Martina, I think it's just the fact that we live out in the country. There's literally nothing to see after dark out here. I'd have to make a specific decision to go to an urban place at night to find things to shoot. Teaching a workshop and borrowing a friend's apartment meant that I had the chance to amble along on a 65-block walk after dark Friday and Saturday evenings. There will be some stuff from the morning walks coming up soon.