i feel the bar band drumbeat beat shaking the floor and it flows through my body up from my toes… so i slide in close…physically close, in their space… total strangers …and somehow quickly, inexplicably , become "one" with them….for a few moments i am "transported"…they do not know me..i have not spoken to them…and yet, an instant "relationship" has been established and exists in real time and space , but only for a precious minute or less…but, i know something is "happening"…
we have written a lot here about being the "fly on the wall" and not being "noticed" when photographing people…. and then we have also spoken much about the other extreme… the making of long term friendships/relationships associated with any truly extended photo essay involving interaction with people over the long haul…
but what about the intermediate interconnection??? the "fast hookup" , photographically speaking….where circumstances allow us to move quickly into situations that might have otherwise seemed impossible…this sort of "speed shooting" is most likely to happen at events, fiestas, weddings and parties…places not likely to cause alarm at someone with a camera…generally friendly atmospheres from the get go…
yet there is still a "ballet" for doing this type of shooting….and how to move confidently but politely is the key to moving in fast..
i was in a live music bar with some of my weekend seminar students the other night in Venice Beach…i had spoken with the owner, so my students had clear permission to shoot freely…it was an alcohol enhanced assemblage of the "best and brightest" from the Venice Beach boardwalk scene where total strangers who can barely talk from over imbibing want to rattle off their life bio..my oh my, everyone wants to be "famous" here one way or the other…very annoying…nevertheless these folks do not mind being photographed….that is, if you do it the right way…
i held back from shooting right away, just to watch my students work…what struck me was how tentative they tended to be and how quickly they would turn away from what i saw as picture opportunities…they would "lose interest" quickly or just not anticipate that what was going on in front of them, albeit "temporarily boring", was about to turn into a true "photo op"…still they were having fun and doing well and it was great fun to be shooting "side by side" with them….this was all happening after our final slide show and we were not "officially gathered"..
so, rather than go in and coach each student, which i had already been doing for two days , i decided to move in a make a few photographs for myself…just for fun..no project intended…right after i made the photograph above, one of my students, Dallas, told me she learned more from watching me shoot than in the entirety of presentations in the classroom…i could not have been "on" for more than a minute or two …fast in, fast out…..
i was not aware of doing anything unusual,but she told me she could not believe how i moved in so close so quickly to the dancing, beer drinking young women… they seemed to be totally aware of me, yet unusually tolerant as well…later, when talking to my students during our after the shoot let's get a beer and talk it all over meeting , i allowed a few observations….
how did i move so fast??? first, as i mentioned before , i was known by the owner from the day before…i had also earlier befriended the lead singer in the band, so standing almost on stage was not a problem …i made sure that i spoke to and shook hands with the two or three customers who were front row to the band and in whose way i was standing ..i got their implied " permission"….most importantly, i think the young women, who i am sure were not averse to being photographed anyway, were particularly accepting of my extreme aggressiveness because i think they could sense i was serious…i was obviously "in the zone" intent on doing something even though they surely could not imagine what that something was!! this manifested itself in a nice hug (always welcome) by both young women after their dance who i think realized that we had all three been in some kind of unidentified collaboration….but no questions asked…
obviously, i am the type of person/photographer who enjoys close contact, either attained quickly or after weeks of growing relationships…i do not think that is a mantra for photographers at all…it just happens to be my way….so, i have a question for you…how large a role does "public relations" play in your work??? do you spend lots of time building rapport with your subjects, or do you prefer to be the more dispassionate objective observer???
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