I was buying a second hand reflector off
eBay, and the seller invited me to pick it up. I went over to his home to meet an elderly retired gentleman
who had a lifetime of photography under his belt.
His eyes were now going, he was giving up,
and in some ways it was a sad meeting.
His wife made me a cup of tea as I looked at some of his photographs.
Eventually I confessed that I was a hopeless
photographer, and told him my background.
His comments were worth gold.
- Firstly, he said don’t chase technology, chase the image. Push the technology you have to produce the best result possible, rather than under use it. He told me to sell all of my bodies and lenses, buy a throwaway camera, and use it until I couldn’t push it any further.
- Secondly, he said start working and stop playing. He said use the rules of ten:
- Pick a topic, and photograph it ten times, each in a different way.
- Or limit yourself to taking just ten photos of an event or topic.
That way I would learn to pick the shot in
the viewfinder not looking at the “snaps” afterwards, and getting a good shot
by chance.
Thirdly he said avoid adding light, move it
instead. The back of his home was
a large studio with big glass skylights and windows. It contained mirrors, backdrops and a lot of very large reflectors,
but as far as I saw, it didn’t have the usual massive studio flashes. He would pick the time when the light
was good, he would move it with reflectors, he would shield it with muslin, but
he seldom added it.
Slowly, I took his advice.
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