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‹ Photo Notes · 15 června, 2015
Don’t worry, despite the poetic title today’s article is strictly factual and concerns only photography. The photography of women, but I think that, as you like and need, it is easy to apply to other photographic genres too.
The thought I want to share today dropped out of me spontaneously at one of the recent workshops, and because it didn’t seem entirely stupid, it would be a pity for only that small group of people to hear it.
I compared the photography of nude, portrait (and anything similar) to landscape photography. That may seem like nonsense at first sight, and I’ve also been through many discussions in which representatives of the mentioned fields couldn’t agree which of them is more demanding, but read on and maybe you’ll agree that the difference between them isn’t that big.
What does landscape photography mean to a layperson? I walk or drive through the countryside, say to myself „it’s nice here„, in front of me a field, meadow, lone tree, rock, pond, path, forest, little hills and the like. I stop, shoot and continue on my way. And in the belly of my camera lies a fantastic landscape photo.
That can of course happen if you have talent, feeling or at least luck to give away, but if you say such a view to an experienced landscape photographer, he’ll either be terribly disappointed or laugh at you. And explain that …
He walks, discovers an interesting place, shoots it, but walks on around the area and explores whether he can’t find an even better angle of view. And that’s not all. He starts to come to the same place repeatedly and gradually gets to know his landscape. He perceives how it changes before his eyes during the day and the year, when it’s beautiful, cheerful, when sad or uninteresting. And when it seems beautiful and interesting to him, he also prays for divine intervention, for the right clouds, fog, sun rays, rain or snow to come and for his photo to finally be perfect.
Note: maybe I’m exaggerating; I don’t shoot landscapes myself, but go by the statements of landscape photographers; it is possible, though, that they were all liars and just tried to put me off photographing landscapes.
And what does nude photography mean to a layperson?
Maybe you’ll laugh or shake your head in disbelief, like most participants of the mentioned workshop, but my experience is that a number of people take it roughly like this: 170 centimetres, 50 kilograms, bust size 2 – clear numbers at the input = a clear photo at the output. „So stand in a pose like this…„
That is a dreadful mistake. For me every model is entirely unique. I know that each has a different charisma, stands differently, moves a hand differently, looks differently, even lies differently. I know that on one I’m fascinated by the legs, on another the hands and on another perhaps the neck and shoulders. I know which one suits me or doesn’t for this and that, and I know that first I have to get to know her to know all of it. Sometimes I have three hours for it and sometimes ten years, but I keep getting to know, perceiving how she blossoms and wilts before me, and for my photos I selfishly steal only the best.
And even if I’ve known her for ages, I still don’t know what she’ll be like when she comes next time. She’ll come in a worse or better mood (school, work, boyfriend or family may be to blame…), her self-confidence will change (she’s aged, gained weight, lost weight, someone said something to her, someone photographed her badly or brilliantly), her physical or health condition will change (lost weight, gained weight, tanned in a swimsuit or without, has a bruise, is before menstruation or has just started menstruating…) etc. All that and much more (among other things that divine intervention or whatever it is) has a huge influence on the uniqueness of the result.
Everyone is different and it is essential to take it that way. There’s no point forcing someone to pose who is not suited to poses, forcing someone to dance who doesn’t dance, demanding athletic feats from someone who has no gift for them or doesn’t have an athletic body, or shooting a model with a musical instrument who has never held any musical instrument in her hand. It shows in the photos and looks awkward.
At another recent workshop I got a (technically meant) question on how to photograph a nice back side. I answered „find someone with a nice back side„.
They say that a photographer is as good as his worst photo. Take every model as an exceptional personality and look for the best; nothing else is worth shooting. Give models your maximum attention and you’ll automatically get the best as a reward.
A few days ago a model told me that I had freed her of many complexes by the way I portrayed her. I could hardly have achieved that had I perceived her only as 170/50/2.