Lessons from the Masters: Helen Levitt

 

How delightful and humorous is this image captured by New York street photographer Helen Levitt? I love what her friend James Agee wrote about her and her photographic style ...

"In every other art which draws directly on the actual world, the actual is transformed by the artist's creative intelligence, into a new and different kind of reality: aesthetic reality. In the kind of photography we are talking about here, the actual is not at all transformed; it is reflected and recorded, within the limits of the camera, with all possible accuracy. The artist's task is not to alter the world as the eye sees it into a world of aesthetic reality, but to perceive the aesthetic reality within the actual world, and to make an undisturbed and faithful record of the instant in which this movement of creativeness achieves its most expressive crystallization."

Not altering reality to bring aesthetic to it. But actually, truly, seeing & perceiving the aesthetic beauty within the world just as it is. Hands down, this is my heart's desire for every session I'm commissioned for and for my documentation of my own family.

The end of Galaxy-ography …

My long-standing relationship with my Galaxy S3 has come to an end.  It has now passed on to Little Dude for some serious Solitaire play.  These are the last of my Galaxy-ography:

Big Dude moved on to an LG G4 and because of big discounting (BOGO half off, yada), I got one, too.  Two months later, I’m still a little conflicted about it.  Some things about the LG camera are fantastic:  the macro ability, manual settings, low light capability (my S3 simply couldn’t take pictures in low light, at all), HDR function, and selfie camera with built-in photoshop botox (of course, I’ll never use that, snort).  Some things are not so fantastic: the controls are cumbersome, no exposure adjustment for video, and there’s a significant delay after hitting the shutter (or saying “cheese”).  That said, here is the first of my LG-ography series…

Lessons from the Masters: Sam Abell

This book + this fabulous 2 hour lecture = GOLD.  Insightful, interesting stories about the creation (creative process) of images.  Sam Abell tells a good story.  And debunks a good many myths.  And learning about his process inspires me to be more intentional about my own process.  

Some notes from his lecture ...

re: Train photo, taken at age 14. Submitted to canon contest. Wanted to win whole shebang.  Instead won $15 honorable mention prize in junior category.  Only printed – in his basement darkroom, which was only truly dark at nighttime – 3 copies.  Just sold last print. 

Shoots full-frame [digital now] only, full uncropped image, aims for sooc-uncropped, just as he did when shooting analog.  Inspired by, of course, Henri Cartier Bresson.   Likes to shoot with two bodies, 1 with a 28mm lens, 1 with 90mm = his walkaround “kit”.  Uses 90% of time.  Shoots without flash.  Sometimes with tripod, usually without.

[Now iconic] Train picture of his dad – Dad gave him his rolleicord camera, told him to compose the picture and wait.  Recommended low angle, leading lines.  His dad also told him “bad weather makes good pictures.”  :-D

His dad taught him how to photograph.  His mom taught him what to photograph.

Composing from “the back” (the horizon, the environment, the geography), inhabiting “the front”, heads & shoulders belong above the horizon.  Student in Abell’s class summarizing main point [humorously]:  “nothing touches”.   (the “articulation of space”)

3’, 4’, 5’ of height makes everything look better (being able to get above your scene/subject)

Macro composition (all that’s in your frame, edge to edge, the whole enchilada) vs. micro composition (the specific articulation of space, compose & wait, NOTHING TOUCHES – ha!)

One of Abell’s defining features … a strong horizon line.  (ie in his window/kremlin photo, dropping out the kremlin background by rising higher, thus catching cement sill of building=strong dividing horizon line, and finally ending with strong window frame line as horizon, and bringing waving-in-the-wind curtain back in.   took 12 hours to create final image)

OMGosh!!!  Sam Abell shoots Canon full-frame in “P” mode with +/- wheel.  Uses lcd on back to determine if he’s happy with image AS IS (no plans to photoshop).  He then laughs and says Canon doesn’t want him to tell people this.

Internal framing goal:  linking still life to landscape

Compose (the “macro” part:  looking edge to edge, whole setting, back to front, separation of layers,  internal framing?, looking thru surfaces?). Wait. (for a blue umbrella, a dog & Frisbee, a bison, wind on albino peacock feathers, a horse whinnying …).  Adjust (the “micro” part: a gesture, expression, lining everything up, and as one student summarized: NOTHING TOUCHES).   Shooting on “P”.  Not cropping.  Not using Photoshop.  Sam calls this a church of photography – one where very, very few people are in the pews, and he’s afraid to turn around and look lest he finds he’s the only one in the pews.

*****
Not from the book or lecture, but a recent shift in focus....

His epiphany, resulting in his current project:  http://distinctionhr.com/2014/02/sam-abell/

Composition Tips for Square Format Photography

 


Square aspect ratio in photography is not a new thing. Rollei created the first square format camera way back in 1929. Hasselblad, Holga, Polaroid, Kodak and others followed with their own versions of square format cameras. And yet, despite this established history, square format photography is relatively new to *me*. As an enthusiastic wide-angle, big-landscape photographer, I’m always naturally attempting to fit as much beauty as possible in every frame. Bigger, wider. Cropping? No way. Square format didn’t hit me over the head until 2012, when I fell in love with Instagram. And was “forced” to fill my grid with squares. Until I became enamored with squares. And decided that even if I could use a horizontal or vertical images, I would choose instead to be a “purist” and use ONLY squares.

So what have I discovered in two years? Square format is remarkably different than horizontal or vertical (portrait) format. It’s somehow simpler. It’s symmetrical. Your eye “reads” through it in a circular motion, as opposed to side-to-side (horizontal format) or up-and-down (vertical format).
I’ve had to learn a couple new tricks to create stronger square images. The very simplest trick, ironically and surprisingly, is the very hardest for me to embrace and incorporate: putting the subject right smack dab in the middle of the frame.

CENTER YOUR SUBJECT




SIMPLIFY WITH NEGATIVE SPACE
This trick is an old friend of mine, and it works just as well in squares as it does in other formats: simplify through using generous amounts of “negative space”, pushing your subject to corners and outer limits …





FILL THE FRAME
Alternatively, simplify by filling the frame … Look to eliminate distractions.





USE DIAGONAL LINES
Diagonals (implied or implicit) have serious impact in square images…






LEADING LINES
Leading Lines are pretty swell, too.




IT’S OK – and totally not boring - TO GO AHEAD AND CENTER YOUR HORIZON
it works nicely with the symmetry of the square. The square gives everything a perfect balance.


 

STRAIGHT-UP SYMMETRY WORKS , too…




SIMPLE GEOMETRIC PATTERNS or REPETITIONS ARE BEAUTIFUL IN SQUARES
For whatever reason, the strong shape of the square seems to complement and accentuate other shapes within it.




REFLECTIONS, SILHOUETTES, SHADOWS
are, of course, fabulous in any format …



I hope what I’ve learned in my pursuit of creating stronger square images can in some small way inspire you to create amazing squares!