mjh
18 November 2011
08 November 2011
A New Old Way of Working
My GRD-4 arrives from B&H Photo tomorrow. I will have it in my hands on Thursday. Some may wonder why anyone would want a fixed focal length, small sensor compact in this have-it-all age of photography. Here's why I hopped aboard the GRD bandwagon:
I cut my street photography teeth about ten years ago using a Canon EOS 1N and 28mm f/2.8 lens, shooting Tri-X developed in D-76. The combination suited my vision at that time, and I turned out some of my most interesting images, even to date. So, I am inherently familiar with the 28mm field of view, and its capabilities and nuances.
In the decade, or so, since those early days, I have tried a countless number of cameras and lenses. I have found myself, lately, shooting more toward the short telephoto end of the focal length range. Still, I have found something is not quite what it was back in those early soujourns. I am now deliberately more discerning and critical about my own shooting style, and it yields for me a higher rate of very well composed images. Unfortunately, that, too, comes at a price. In the early days I was not afraid to shoot prolifically. My photography professor described my style of photography and the resulting images as the visual counterpart to improvosational jazz. And, in truth, I did feel a certain synchopation and rhythm whenever I stepped out onto the streets to photograph what I call "life stills".
Lately, I have felt the need to get back to that "in-the-moment" style of photography. I have revisited the works of some of my own early influences like Garry Winogrand and Weegee. I have found new sources of photographic inspiration, especially the work of Daido Moriyama. and, I have reviewed my own early successes and failures to remember what worked and what didn't.
My early work was very integrated, and has since become more peripheral. Some of that dynamic has to do with my switch to the use of longer focal lengths, but most has been my attitude toward shooting; it has been more passive than active, more detached than engaged, more preconceived than spontaneous. To paraphrase the great Yogi Berra, "How can you think and shoot at the same time?". The key here, for me, is to trust my creative vision first and go with that, THEN reign in that creative vision during the editing process. My early style of shooting yielded "happy accidents" which I almost never find anymore, and miss.
I have come to appreciate compact digital cameras, and I want a camera that gets me back to my early days of shooting in the same style I did with my 1N/28mm combo. I want a camera that is quick, responsive, well laid-out and robustly constructed. The GRD-4 seems to be the first digital compact, and, indeed, the first of even its own GR line to check off all those boxes. I am looking for a tool that will allow me to shoot fast-and-loose. Something that allows me to define a scene by its edges - by what is excluded - and to let the content describe itself.
Please enjoy the ensuing photographs. Take care!
mjh
I cut my street photography teeth about ten years ago using a Canon EOS 1N and 28mm f/2.8 lens, shooting Tri-X developed in D-76. The combination suited my vision at that time, and I turned out some of my most interesting images, even to date. So, I am inherently familiar with the 28mm field of view, and its capabilities and nuances.
In the decade, or so, since those early days, I have tried a countless number of cameras and lenses. I have found myself, lately, shooting more toward the short telephoto end of the focal length range. Still, I have found something is not quite what it was back in those early soujourns. I am now deliberately more discerning and critical about my own shooting style, and it yields for me a higher rate of very well composed images. Unfortunately, that, too, comes at a price. In the early days I was not afraid to shoot prolifically. My photography professor described my style of photography and the resulting images as the visual counterpart to improvosational jazz. And, in truth, I did feel a certain synchopation and rhythm whenever I stepped out onto the streets to photograph what I call "life stills".
Lately, I have felt the need to get back to that "in-the-moment" style of photography. I have revisited the works of some of my own early influences like Garry Winogrand and Weegee. I have found new sources of photographic inspiration, especially the work of Daido Moriyama. and, I have reviewed my own early successes and failures to remember what worked and what didn't.
My early work was very integrated, and has since become more peripheral. Some of that dynamic has to do with my switch to the use of longer focal lengths, but most has been my attitude toward shooting; it has been more passive than active, more detached than engaged, more preconceived than spontaneous. To paraphrase the great Yogi Berra, "How can you think and shoot at the same time?". The key here, for me, is to trust my creative vision first and go with that, THEN reign in that creative vision during the editing process. My early style of shooting yielded "happy accidents" which I almost never find anymore, and miss.
I have come to appreciate compact digital cameras, and I want a camera that gets me back to my early days of shooting in the same style I did with my 1N/28mm combo. I want a camera that is quick, responsive, well laid-out and robustly constructed. The GRD-4 seems to be the first digital compact, and, indeed, the first of even its own GR line to check off all those boxes. I am looking for a tool that will allow me to shoot fast-and-loose. Something that allows me to define a scene by its edges - by what is excluded - and to let the content describe itself.
Please enjoy the ensuing photographs. Take care!
mjh
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