I have often heard that the eyes are the window to the soul. I know that there is no truth in this even though I think that the eyes of a person tell a lot about them. Occasionally, as crazy as it sounds, I will see a photo where I feel that I can look right into a person's soul. That is the kind of photo that is rare and it is almost haunting in how it follows you for days and sometimes years to come. I personally have never been able to capture that. I have taken thousands of pictures and I can not think of one where I truly believe that I have accomplished that feat.
This past weekend, I went to the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth. It is one of my favorite places to visit. One of the exhibits that is currently on display is "American Modern: Abbott, Evans, Bourke-White". In this display of photographs, I came across one of the photos by Margaret Bourke-White that was one of "those" kind of photos. It seemed to somehow capture the soul of the individuals. I was moved by it somehow. I do not understand how it happens, but something about the photo speaks to you and you can see and feel that it is somehow special.
Each individual person sees things differently. I noticed that while there were pictures that I lingered at, others would barely even glance at and some that others would linger at, I would slowly pass by wondering what they saw in it. Each of us are drawn to their own haunts and thoughts as we interpret what the photo is trying to convey.
Photography is a passion of mine. I long to be able to capture the type of photo that as people see it, they stop and do not even speak, they just gaze into the photo as if they themselves were held captive by the shutter. I have found that I am my harshest critic. My wife laughs at me because of the number of photos that I currently have on my computer is somewhere around 15,000. As a rule, for every 100 photos I take, I can usually find about one that I like and about one in 1000 that I love. That means that I have thousands to delete, but as I go back through them, I look to see if there is something there that I missed the first, second, third,......time that I looked at them. I know there was something to start with or I would not have taken the picture. Are these pictures that I would slowly pass by while others would linger at? I guess I will never know.
Say what you will, but I truly hope that at least once in my life I will capture "that" photo that each of us are looking to capture. I do not know what or where it is, but my camera is always ready and my eyes are always searching. I learned the hard way that you should never pass up a photo opportunity when it presents itself. The photo that haunts me the most is the one that I never took. I was in the perfect place, the stage was set, the subject was perfectly posed. It was priceless. I had my camera at hand, ready to take the shot and I just didn't. It is a picture that I will always carry in my mind, but I will never be able to share. It is not that I was lost in the moment or too slow to capture what was before me, I was so moved by it that I felt like an outsider that was stealing something that was not mine to take, so I sat my camera down and allowed the moment to fade away. In many ways for years I have regretted that decision, but in some ways, that decision has brought me an unexplainable degree of satisfaction.
The photo that I have posted is one that I took in Jamaica. It is one of my wife's favorites. To each his own.
Ghost Writer
GW, I love your photo of the Jamaican girl. Were you hanging out of a window at the time? She appears to be looking up at you with a hopeful expression. I wish you'd share more of your photography!
ReplyDeleteI decided to check my Pictures folder on my Mac to see just how many photos reside: 30,555! I thought for sure you had me beat because 15k is a LOT. But this figure also includes scanned photos going back years and years.
There is a contact of mine on Flickr who is embarking on a "100 Strangers" project. She has met so many people and learned so many interesting things about them. If you have an eye for "people" photography, and I bet you do, I would recommend doing this. Alas, I have no eye for people. The animals are my lure. :)
Belle, actually this picture was taken as our cruise ship was preparing to pull out of port in Montego Bay. In Jamaica, a small group of children and young adults in uniform will perform in a band while we reboard. People will throw change and dollar bills from the ship and the kids will gather it up. In this picture, the young girl has just put the money that she gathered up into the bag and is looking up to find the next contribution.
ReplyDeleteTell me more about this "100 Strangers Project".
Cool story on the little girl. Her hopeful expression just might mean, "Thanks, but is there more where this came from?" LOL Thank you for the back story.
ReplyDeleteI'm not positive, but I think the 100 Strangers thing is from a Flickr group. If you don't have a Flickr account, I would recommend getting one. There are privacy settings on there that protect your images and I feel very comfortable posting my pictures there. My user name is Louisiana Belle (of course!).
My Flickr friend is Maureen Bond; her 100 strangers photostream is here http://www.flickr.com/photos/maureenbond/3313092982/in/set-72157614489550036/
The group she posts to is here http://www.flickr.com/groups/100strangers/
These are the rules according to the group:
About 100 strangers
Step out of your comfort zone to a new level of portrait photography. Start by taking 100 portraits of people you don't know.
The idea: The One Hundred Strangers project is a learning group for people who want to improve the social and technical skills needed for taking portraits of strangers and telling their stories. The method is learning by doing.
The project is lots of fun and improves photojournalistic skills. During the process you might expand your every day living experience - and who knows, maybe you will even get a couple of new friends during the process.
We welcome both beginner and advanced photographers. You may be new to photographing strangers or already have experience of this type of photography.
The challenge: Take 100 photographs of at least 100 people you don't know. Approach a person or group of people and ask for permission to both take a photo of them and to post it to this group. Get to know your subjects. Who are they? What is their life like?
Try to tell a small story with each photo you take. This may be a story about the person or how you felt approaching that particular individual. You may have, for example, tried a new approach or used a new photographic technique. Try to learn something from every encounter you make.
Well, apparently there is a web site dedicated to this project http://www.100strangers.com/
ReplyDeleteLet me know if you decide to do it. :)
I love the picture too. It tells so much...
ReplyDelete