Don’t look for photos on this post….ain’t time for that. It’s 27F outside and Tanya & I walked to the ShopRite to get the things she needs to make a lavish, well lavish Philly, well…lavish NE Philly on Montour Street dinner. She’s downstairs cooking what no doubt will be another dinner to never forget….A big crowd tonight, her and I and of course Barsik the camera bag inspector.
I’m upstairs cleaning the Fuji’s and lenses to get ready for tomorrow’s Mummers Parade. I set the clocks so that capture time is recorded and everything is in order. Ya know many years ago the parade route was wide open. What I mean is that there was no fences to constrain anyone from making contact or going into the crowds or streets. I loved that. I just mingled around and made the photos I wanted without any freedoms being fenced in and or out. Then the City felt it needed to put fences all around the parade route and I was really upset and so were the Mummers. For a few years I went to the parade and felt restricted in movement and in the right of passage.
Then in 2011 as I was leaving the parade, I bumped into an old friend that was a great shooter for many news agencies etc. His name was Bob C……He passed away this year around March and was 83 at that time. So Bob asked me how I was doing and we talked and I felt really happy and at one with myself talking to Bob. He was the kinda shooter that loved to get in the middle of things and I’m just the opposite, he knew that.
Bob said to me….”Don, isn’t it great how they put those fences all around?” I said no Bob…why would you think that? He then said something to me that I will never forget as long as I exist, the other side included.
He said…“Don, those fences are for you. They keep everyone contained so that you can work easily and move thru the parade watchers like you always do. You never shoot the parade like other people. You alway shot it like watching from the inside, just like your street work, how life effects people…from the inside, you have to see those fences as being put there for you to work and not as a barrier from your work.”
I should add that I met Bob thru Ding McNulty. So obviously the life lessons I gathered came from a source that I try to pass on. So now as the year passes on and we move to another set of numbers, I think I’ll try to understand something I may have just taken for granted for many years. See, I always understood the lessons of life and photography etc that Ding, Bob and others passed on to me. I learned these lessons well and applied all to my work and more importantly…LIFE. What I didn’t get for many years was the actual source of the lesson. I don’t mean the passeron person or mentor, whatever. I mean the actual crux of the spark that created the material to make the lesson.
So, it’s up to me to try to decipher it all and at the end of the year, going into New Years I do have a lesson learned to tell to all…….Ding, Peter, Bob won’t like this but here’s 1…..
If you want to bring New Years in, in a special romantic way…..heed my warning! Don’t drink beer and eat hard boiled eggs……..
Happy New Years to all and to all a Good Night…….
Happy New Year, Don.
Happy New Years to you and yours Dan…even the cameras….
Happy New Year, Don and I will heed your warning… thanks.
Ann, no need to get carried away. I speak from experience before I was married to the Russian Czar. Now that we are married, I heed the warnings I give to all friends….especially to the men folks. Of you and the other woman folks need no warning…because you just don’t.
Happy Healthy New Years…..
Happy New Year Don.
Same to you Dave.
Happy New Year Don. Good post & the fences hit home for me. I’m a film shooter & I know that was your 1st start b4 digital so I know you can answer this. I really want to up my shooting this year & will be shooting b&w film. I really enjoyed reading the 1st download of IE. Thinking about getting the next 4 to read. I think I already know the answer, but would like to hear from a more experienced shooter. What benefit can I learn from the magazine that would benefit me as a film shooter? Also, I scan with an Epson V500 & edit with PS6. Can I use your Presets or are they just for digital cameras? I’m still learning this film to digital stuff. Thanks Don.
Happy New Years to you too. It’s an interesting question you put forth. I actually thought about it most of the day and then it hit me…….
Photography is a personal venture to find in 2 dimensions the vision you see in 3 dimensions. The key issue here besides SEEING and recording is PROCESSING. The way it has always worked for me and many, many other dedicated shooters is like this:
The photograph, print, image…whatever you call it is a representation of what you see and process within your photographic experience. If that’s the case and it is….it stands to reason that no matter what you use to capture, no matter what you use to process…you must stay true to your intent and the intent of your vision.
So, working with film and or digital should only be thought of as process.
Today, there are so many hybrid shooters it boggles my mine. If your shooting film then see that part of your process as a part of your vision. Presets that I make are made for vision, not for just any camera, film/digital etc.
If you want to use them in PS I could have Olivier transpose them to work there. I develop and use them in LR5.
The magazine is for photographers, digital, film, silver, non silver etc. The magazine is for photographers not a specific process or genre’.
I hope I answered your question and I would respectfully suggest you concentrate on VISION and INTENT above and beyond anything else. You have to discover the processing to meet your internal quest for your vision.
Cameras, film, developers, digital processing etc should help to support your output and vision not be the strength of your vision.
You can find your way easily if you look at your work and SEE where it was in your history and where you would like it to go hand in hand with you in the present and future.
We can Skype if you like or whatever……don
Thats deep food for thought brother & I like that. Your answer Don was far over & beyond what I had hoped to read. I will focus on my Vision & Intent. As for the mag. I’m gonna grab the back issues & will likely subscribe once I’m caught up. IE from what I have read is exactally what I’ve been looking for to help inspire me to become…better on all levels. I loved just from reading the 1st issue on what inspiresyou & others, wether they shoot film or digital isn’t important. Thanks Don for your time….greg