Hi Russ
Yes, I accept that the machine gun brigade was already present, and all correct; also, it really isn't always as negative a system as some make it out to be. In the case of Brassaï, where we are deaing with portraits (and camels), there generally isn't the need for motor drive shooting; in fact, in my own case, that would be the sort of situation where I would probably have been drawn to the 'blad rather than towards Nikon. Other than the 'slow and considered' thing, there's also the need to consider how the shot(s) might be printed - 6x6 allowed fairly optimal cropping of the sides - 35mm always felt too tall in the vertical mode, but just about perfect in horizontal, but I'm perfectly happy to accept that may just be a quirk on my part.
Then there's the model to consider: some can hold a shape and switch expressions on demand; others can't and have to run through a sort of little 'programme' of their own devising to get to where they think you want to go, in which case, a motored approach can help you catch it. There's nothing worse than that moment, that lull when nothing's happening between the two of you and you fear the model mght lose confidence both in herself and, more importantly, in you. Then you just click your way out of that doldrum and carry both of you to the next peak, which usually does show up. You both depend on that to get paid! Or at least, a second time by the same client.
But getting back to Mr Hillman: his pedigree is quite amazing; the Nova thing is revealing in many ways, especially when he talks about Harri Peccinotti. (Like Hans Feurer and also Peter Knapp as well as David Hamilton, these people are/were not just photographers, but designers/creatives in other fields too. I think that must have made it less than easy for other art directors to deal with them, on many levels that spring to mind.
This thing that Hillman mentions, of building up the picture by looking into a monitor all the time – it was similar in the days of Polaroid, too, where some would consume huge loads of the stuff – probably as much out of client insecurity and need as their own. Though I did own a Polaroid back for the ‘blad system, I seldom used the stuff – didn’t have to, really, because more often than not I was my own art director, thank God! Also, I did tend to use 35mm most of the time, anyway, and though there was a Polaroid system of sorts for that, too, I never had it.
Well, knowing when you have the shot is more easily said than done; you can also be mistaken, as I have found at times. Then, you can be surprised by something you’d thought hadn’t worked particularly brilliantly – or it might be post-event rationalisation!
Distance, oh distance! Time can change one’s perception too; that pic that felt great twenty years ago suddenly pales in comparison with another from the set that hadn’t at the time, done anything much to open the juices-gate. Fortunately, by then, it doesn’t matter much to anyone other than the shooter; an academic instant of revelation, I suppose one could say.
Digital has changed many things, other than just the use of film. Speaking for myself, I discover that I have lost much of my sense of exposure control. Was a time, with Kodachrome or pretty much with anything else from the very short range of materials I used, that I knew instinctively how to meter for the effect I sought. With digi, I’m not so sure anymore, and have become dependent on the built-in metering of the camera, something I never did with film, despite having had a Photomic F2 for a period. Using a Weston or a Minolta meter isn’t the same thing at all as using the camera’s own device. Somehow, with digi, hand-held meters seem to have gone into a virtual tomb, as far as I’m concerned. I don’t know if that’s good or bad.
Of course, I speak from the position of being long-retired from pro life; perhaps if I were still actively engaged I’d have lost none of the old skills at all… to be honest, that’s something that can happen even within the same medium: I went through a period where I was doing a reasonable amount of event shooting with portable flash slung over the shoulder. I was quite good at guestimating exposure. Then, when I went out of that genre, I realised later that I no longer would have known how to set the friggin’ diaphragm and would have had to bracket like mad!
As they say, use it or lose it. Guess that applies to photography too!
Rob
