My
Photography
My own simplistic view
Terry L Hardy
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| Terry Hardy |
I am entitled to
have a slightly ‘jaundiced eye’ about photography after more than sixty years
of using a camera and having probably taking my first picture in 1938 with a cardboard contraption and Velox ‘Gaslight’
paper made by my God Father and uncle. How many thousands of images since –
pictures and what pleasure.
Photography
means, and let us not forget, “Painting with Light”. Yes it means recording an
image in a split second using some absolutely extraneous technical and
mechanical means. It matters not whether the ‘picture’ originates by a digital
or film or paper process – it is the image
which has overriding importance. It is the space and the time and the evidence
of something that comes to rest in some place for others to see and record and
think about that is manifestly of some magical importance.
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| Terry Hardy |
So, does it
matter that the….. ‘light intensity varies inversely with the square of the
distance’ ? Does it matter that the …… ‘focal length in some unit times the enlargement
divided by the distance in some unit’ …. can help us to derive some factor for
the establishment of a speed to set our camera shutter to accurately record a
moving image? There is a book somewhere which will tell us so and try to
educate us. I very much doubt that Don McCullin had too much time to work on
extraneous formulae during the recording of his images of war in all its
ghastliness or Cartier Bresson worried too much about working out some formula
before recording an image in time, never to be repeated. Robert Doisneau did
not, I am fairly sure, care too much about such matters as he recalled the
scenes in Les Halles Market at night time. If they had done so then we would be
the poorer because the image would have passed within that split second and it
would have changed in appearance. And the digital world has not escaped this
mania for the irrelevant either. I have noticed that a well known photographic
magazine tells me that the light falling on a surface is called illumination
and that the relationship between the exposure and exposure time is expressed
as E=it. I am so pleased to know that when I am on Waterloo Station mixing with
the crowds to capture the anguish on their faces as they see that the homeward
bound train is cancelled. And what about the shadows and the highlights and the
greyness in between and noticing that he light is going to change unless one
gets a mighty move on!
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| Terry Hardy |
Of course it
depends to some extent on the type of photography and the objective in
establishing and preserving the ‘happening’ for all time. The great portraitist
will leave little or nothing to chance – the sexy glance, the highlight in the
yes and on the lips. The ‘table top’ photographer recording for commercialism
will get it right and has the time, and the payment beckoning, to do this – but
even then so much will depend on experience - and some gadgetry to help to get
it as right as possible. The Landscape photographer will assess and observe and
work fast or he or she will lose that cloud formation or those sea waves
crashing. So experience and personal objective
is paramount.
There is so much
truth in the simple answer to the question “how do I take better photographs?”
answer – “take more”.
Some of the
finest images I have seen go straight back to the Pinhole Camera – yes the
cardboard box with a hole at the front and some means of holding a sheet or
whatever of light sensitive material at the back. No Lens, no shutter, no
diaphragm just the operator’s enthusiasm and observation and experience and
need.
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| Terry Hardy |
Of course there
is a happy medium and some form of focussing and lens and diaphragm and shutter
are obviously needed as a basic requirement and oh yes, a box to contain it
all. “Ah, a box camera” did I hear
you say? What no mega pixels, no ultra fast f
this or that and no high shutter
speeds and no brass knobs or strutty bits
for the rising and cross frontage devices?
But then there is
another form of photography the sheer pleasure of playing with and handling a
camera. If the camera is from bygone days there is the question of who held it,
what did it capture? Did it rest in someone’s pocket as he climbed over the
trenches in the Somme or did it fall in the sand as couples ‘played’ with much
vigour on the beach or get forgotten at the picnic? So there are the collectors
and the enthusiasts “this had a Zeiss coupled ‘thingimybob’ with a bi-convoluted
toggle switch and it was made in 1902.”
Of course much
depends on the objective and recording. Capturing life on the streets is
certainly a very different prospect to attempting to make a banana look
absolutely exquisite as it nestles on a plate of something for a magazine
advertising exotic underwear. So it is certainly a case of ‘horses for courses’
and choosing the tools for the task and satisfying the customer.
Terry Hardy
Out and about
photography, now called Street Photography, cries out for simplicity. Avoid flash like the plague and tripods are for
tripping over; lens changing takes time. Eyes must be ever on the move and a
degree of forward thinking is a must. “That individual must surely cross the
road at that point over there – so I will position myself.” “Quick, that bus is
coming and will obscure the very idea I want to capture in my ‘box’. ” “Why is
that old lady sitting on a box cutting her toenails ? – she will go in a few moments”.
That building is going to be torn down next week. Awareness is vital and some
idea of just what may be where and preparedness for the unexpected around the
next corner.
If at all
possible every picture should tell a story. This is a fundamental whether
catching the unforgettable of Aunt Meg wearing that ridiculous hat or the smoke
and dust milliseconds after that explosion. But it is not always possible to be
in a position or to think out the story before pressing the shutter – but some
planning is essential.
What happened to
the phrase and description of photography being an art form?
Seeing an
enticing image in the first place is an art in itself but for those in the
fortunate position of having a wet darkroom …. this is where the art truly takes place.
The pleasure of
watching an image slowly appear on a sheet of chosen sensitive paper in the
dish of D163, or whatever, is inestimable. Here the art really begins. A touch
more exposure, next time try tilting the base of the enlarger a scrap, use the
piece of cardboard stuck to the knitting needle with Plasticine and wave it
with loving care under the lens to decrease the exposure …. just here…. take
the wet print and use a little … just a little … ferri-cyanide on that
highlight. Then the drying and glazing and trimming and the framing. Then and only then do we have a piece of
art unique to itself and to the
artist. All made with that rather special paint brush called a camera and the
happening of a bit of light – and
luck.
TLH December 2012
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