God & St. Jude Looks out for Photographers & Small Dogs - Defence of Lucky
The greatest pictures of the year , and they look so much like the greatest ever. - Jason Payne's Stopping a Rioter and Tijana Martin's Duking it out with a rioter , fast , honest ,bold , every one a lucky shot .There is nothing better in this world than to be lucky , the luckiest picture of all , the Love Amidst the Rage , by Richard Lam .It has to be the coolest HM ever in the history of news photography .
Sports action Steve Russell's Goalies Game Over ,sad and sudden , it makes a heart sink . But the moment cannot be copied , singular , clean . So much speed . My old boss Jon Thordarson, RIP , would talk about the “power of the still photographer “. What a great phrase , a sentence , a statement .
Another nice job to Kitty Wong for creating the 2011 POY awards book .
Every year photographers pick up their shield and spear and head into the fray . The variety and quality of the work constantly amazes. And Yet , photographers have a hard time getting the recognition they deserve for their efforts .There are people ( even in our business) who say that this person was “lucky” or they were “in the right spot at the right time”. There will always be people who will diminish any accomplishment . Many photographers will simply walk away shaking their heads , the criticism may even come from their peers .
Not so fast.
The pictures that most interest me are the “shooter” moments because of their honesty , they capture the most , immediate , intimate , instant reactions , and the photographers are given the least credit . They just happen and we jut shoot them. They are historical record , evidence. Is it an accident we carry expensive cameras and glass with capabilities from fast 18mm to 400mm ?
I have never met a news photographer that didn't think he was “lucky” . That feeling of being lucky is an essential element of every warrior going back to the time of the Greeks . That lucky feeling allows the person to push beyond normal , it is the feeling they will not die today. Yet they go into situations where they know people are in danger , situations where they are in danger . Still they head into the vortex of the conflict .Hoping for a “picture” and not an injury.
I don't know the stories behind each of the photos from the Vancouver Stanley Cup riots but I know how these pictures come about because all great news pictures have similar qualities.
The “conditions” the weather pattern of news have to exist. There is an unpredictable movement , a thread running through it.That energy flows in a direction that the photographer taps into. The feeling that a great photo is near is present. The energy flows and turns and has dimension that has to be tracked, it gives off noise and sparks and needs to be fallowed. A tornado with many funnel clouds building but not yet touching the ground . There is a need to be where that energy touches down , in the right spot to capture it. The exact moment needs company .
These are the conditions the subject presents. The photographer has to tune into the mathematics of the movement , keep up and wait .Many , many things have to go right . If you had to count them they may start in the morning when the photog woke up and unplugged batteries or turning left when they should have turned right .
There is the flow of the day leading to an intersection point of the paths many hundreds of people. There is the moment when the picture turns toward the “shooter” then reveals itself . The photographer has to recognize that moment and find it in themselves to frame , expose and close the deal . If the brain activity could be measured it would include the entire brain from stem to stern. Reactive reflective , decisive , rewarded . Like breaking the sound barrier , the flattening sound of satifaction will come three seconds later. For the very few the intensity of that moment will will only be matched a few times in a life time but will be sought every working day.
Love the day .
Know ,Understand , Defend , the work we do every day .
Topic: We Know Lucky (Read 1315 times)