Preparing traffic lights for installation.

Asia is great for photography, especially photojournalistic photography. You can always find people on the streets and, from a Western perspective, there is always something interesting going on. Having just returned to the United States, I have to adjust to the new situation, adjust to the rhythms and patterns of the American culture, to be able to catch those photos which can portray life and work and reality in the United States.

This photograph was really quite important for me. The biggest adjustment to do everyday documentary photography is that I am driving from place to place instead of walking, and when I see something to photograph, I cannot just aim and shoot as if I were on a sidewalk in China.

I had just left the grocery store and these guys were working on the intersection at the edge of the parking lot, on the busiest street in Temple, Texas. Perfect: opportunity and I am not driving 60MPH. Not only was I able to take some shots of everyday work and life (which marked a re-entry into my favorite kind of photography now that I am back in the United States), but I settled some old questions, found new information, and met an interesting guy.

Just trusty aluminum

I had been told traffic lights were incredibly heavy, maybe in the hundreds of pounds. I never could figure out how those poles, regardless of their construction or the materials used, could hold up such weight, especially in high winds. Well, he said they were 60lbs. And the poles were in the neighborhood of 3000lbs. Ok, I am all clear now; I can believe that.

They were installing the video cameras. Having lived in China under the watchful eye of “the authorities”, cameras in public piqued my interest. He explained, however, that the cameras are not for surveillance or even for auto-camera-ticketing, but simply as the eye of the system so that the lights could detect traffic and increase efficiency at low traffic hours. High traffic hours would not even use the cameras, because the system is on a pre-set timing, coordinated with other lights.

So, I have officially entered the American documentary photography scene…well, officially for myself, anyway. Especially since I have lived in China for ten years, and thus see my own home culture from a very different perspective now, I look forward to documenting what I see and trying to explain what the culture and society of the United States is really like.

In the biographical documentary about James Nachtwey, War Photographer, Nachtwey said, “It’s more difficult to get publications to focus on issues that are more critical, that do not provide people with an escape from reality, but attempt to get them deeper into reality, to be concerned about something much greater than themselves.”

Modern culture, which globally is (unfortunately) becoming more Western and even American, has focused on being entertained instead of engaging life around us. It is the difference between reading a book and watching television. It is giving the kids a video game instead of taking them on a walk or kicking the ball around. Those things have their place, but not if they completely replace an interconnected, relational, engaged approach to life.

Nachtwey mentioned how advertising has pushed out content. It is quite simple: companies do not want their perfume and clothing (and beautiful models) seen across the page from war, disease, poverty, and injustice. Evidently, it is hard to sell luxury items when readers might actually be affected by photos of those in suffering. They might just become “concerned about something much greater than themselves”.

It is so easy to be gamed, advertised, and sit-commed to spiritual death. Nacthwey wants to be the eyes in the field for us, and for some of us media producers, we should follow his lead, engage the world, and with camera in hand, pass on a taste of reality to our smaller audiences.

Instead of striving to create more online forum prize winners, why not switch off the ultimate entertainment internet, and re-join our local community, our neighborhoods, our families.

Here’s a tip of the hat to you, Mr. Nachtwey.

He says in the film, “We must look at it, we’re required to look at it, we’re required to do what we can. If we don’t, who will?”

This film is not about a man who pushes to the front lines and is right in the middle of the decisive moment even when the bullet are flying just for personal glory, more prizes, or the photo with the most edge so he can beat out the competition for the front page. The theme that comes through over and over again is that he goes out so he can capture the essence of what is happening around this world, because he believes people want to know, that people want to do something, and in so doing, he is trying to write terms of peace.

I have been questioning the purpose of photography lately, and this is a breath of fresh air. Why even take photos? Why would I go through contortions just to take a beautiful, unique photo of a flower or landscape instead of just enjoy it with my own two eyes and be fully present in the moment? Personal glory? Why do I attempt documentary photography when the photos’ meanings can be so subjective and the story manipulated (by me or others)? Why not just write about it? Am I trying to entertain? Am I seeking personal glory again?

Then I think about my use of Twitter, which for many, including me, is often just “getting my work out there”…i.e. it is all about me and my personal glory. Ich! That may not be a problem for you, but it is certainly easy to do for me. Sure, there are great uses of Twitter and Facebook or blogs (oops!), but it is a matter of the heart.

If am to continue to be a photographer, what is my responsibility? What is my responsibility to my conscience, my God, my culture? James Nachtwey provides a little glimpse in that quote, maybe not the full answer, because that will be different in different situations and for different people, but at least a sign post to get us headed the right direction: “to do what we can”.

What can I do? Well, as much as I would love to begin to rationalize it, I am not going to be able to leave my family for a self-glorious life of photography around the world. So, am I ok…can I just take my flower pictures now? Not quite…at least, that does not begin to console my conscience.

There are plenty of issues close to home too. There are plenty of issues that never hit the main stream media: little injustices around us or maybe even praises of those who are stepping up and doing what they can. There are churches feeding the poor, there are teachers sacrificing financial security to educate, there is the beggar in the intersection, or the lady dying from cancer with a life of experience to pass on.

I agree with James Nachtwey: I think people want to know. There are plenty of people out there, I believe, who are willing to take out the ear buds and reengage society around them. Let’s not entertain or seek our (ill-fated) photographic glory; we do not have the humility to keep it going anyway. Let’s just do what we can.

For one, Polaroid is just cool. I remember wanting to shoot one when I was a kid when seeing some friend of my brother with one, but I was simply too little to be trusted, I guess. I have never pulled the trigger (more true than I ever knew till just recently, they really do have a trigger kind of mechanism) on a Polaroid. And second, I only have ten shots. That is just exciting in itself.

I know there are other folks out there who can understand this strange feeling, but I am just giddy at the thought. It will be the perfect way to catch those ethereally normal moments as our family makes a very big life change. And you can bet I will be writing notes on the bottom. That is just too cool to not have to do that in some computer software!

The update came from some friends in China whose young daughter had just successfully undergone heart surgery this morning. Obviously, that is scary, a lot of emotions are involved, and words alone are usually all we get through e-mail updates from friends. Ok, maybe we get some snapshot. This too was a snapshot, but a powerful one. Photography can be so incredibly powerful, if wielded well.

In the photo, a nurse is holding the six year old girl soon after surgery. The nurse and a couple more nurses behind the girl (in the center of the shot) and the mother are all beaming with joy, clearly saying with their expressions that the darkness of their fears has been washed away and the joy of the morning is dawning. The moment is perfect.

The photo is also dynamic. There is a subtle hint of movement in the mom, toward the girl, but the girl is fixed, clear, and the center of the joy. The blurred, far-background nurses make me feel that all else keeps moving, but for the girl and those around her, all time has slowed so they can drink up every joyous mouthfull of this perfect moment.

And it even has vignetting. Too cool. I am sure this is just the “inferior” qualities of the extreme wide angle of a compact camera, but it further brings my focus to the center of the photo.

These folks are not photographers. This photo is a total fluke. Anyone can take a wonderful photo, but we have to strive to capture all of this on purpose. That is a tall order. There is so much of that photo which cannot be made or forced. It has a lot to do with the settings being second nature so that when that moment comes, you do not think about how to capture it, you just capture it.

Anyone can shoot a great photo, but only the fearless can be great.

“Photojournalism” is probably the most well know of those terms. We think of news photographers, war photographers, and the like. That one, even if it does have some other definition, already has a practical definition in the minds of common man.

As with many of the definitions these days, though, I think the lines are blurring. It goes along with issues like professional and amateur. If that blatantly uncreative studio portrait dude in our local Whatever-Mart is a photography professional, then I am the first to despair in this wonderful art of photography. Similarly, I am utterly shocked with the caliber of photos I see from “amateurs” with a little browsing around Flickr and the like. Maybe Whatever-Mart could not handle them! Let’s get back to our definitions in question.

Now, I would be the last to know, because I am not “in the industry”, but maybe the appearance of “editorial” and “documentary” came from the inadequacy of one word to cover so many meanings. Maybe they designate a particular focus within photojournalism, something more specific. And maybe some guy just thought he would come up with a clever new word as a marketing ploy. I don’t know.

All I can do is look at the words themselves and let the English language tell me what they mean…I might add, like most people out there will have to do to try to understand what photographers are talking about. “Photojournalism” says to me, “using photos to chronicle” something. “Editorial” says “I work for the news media and want to say what I want to say, my way”. And “documentary” brings all the connotations of documentary film and seems to say “I use photos to dig to the roots of a story, to understand and explain it to others”. And “photo story”…this one is easy, is “telling a story with photos”.

So, where do I, Cooper Strange, fit in and what kind of photos do I shoot? Well, not that I really care to have one appellation or another, but it depends on the day (or maybe how good my coffee tasted!). I think I am a little of all those, except for maybe editorial, sometimes more than one, and sometimes none of the above.

I am just thinking out loud. I cannot find any good definitions, but maybe some of you out there know. I would love to be corrected or instructed on the differences. So, here’s to Journo-edi-docu-story-ism. That is my kind of photography!

Ladies Talk Before Going on Shift

I uploaded the gallery from the midnight factory shift photo story. As I mentioned a few days ago, I really wanted to treat it like a film shoot. I left the photos unseen for several days, trying to break my LCD habit and to start thinking more when actually taking the photos.

Also, when processing them, I honored my initial decision to make them black and white, as if I had chosen a roll of film. Meaning, I made one black and white conversion and applied it to all of them.

This is only reflective of 20 minutes of shooting, mostly waiting around for the rush right after midnight on only one night, so the story is quite undeveloped. Still, it was a good exercise for my storytelling. I want to seek out the stories around me and tell some of them in photos.

And one last comment. I am not too fond of my framing in a couple of these shots. I realize I really need to think more about framing and how it compliments the story. What I include and exclude can radically change the story. I have gotten into a quicky framing mentality, and that is fine, but there needs to be more thought in the process to capture more of the story.

Enjoy Graveyard Shift.

To me, focusing on a Cartier-Bresson style basically frees the photographer from the need of much gear. You need a camera, and the smaller the better. Therefore, the supersized SLRs are really fighting against you on this point. Though point and shoot cameras are smaller, I think they can almost be totally disqualified for another reason: you need instant response. When you press the button, the camera fires. Period.

Even the most basic DSLRs will do that. I would suggest that frames per minute, or how fast you could take these shots, does not really matter much either. It may help at times, but more than likely, you will slowly get lazy, knowing you can fire off five or six shots, in hopes that the decisive moment was in there somewhere and that you might have hit it. You simply need to be able to release that shutter when your instincts say the moment is going to happen.

As for lenses, a variety of lenses in the bag can help, but speaking of Cartier-Bresson who basically only used a 50mm, you do not necessarily even need anything more than a 50mm f/1.8 or f/1.4. For years, I captured photos on an all-manual film camera with my one 50mm f/1.7 lens, and I still feel the photos I took then have something my newer photos do not…but that gets into another topic. Why use me as an example, though. You have Cartier-Bresson and a host of other greats.

It is more about the moment than the gear. I have looked at some incredible photos. They were overly contrasty, full of grain, and out of focus, but they caught that moment. You know the famous Normandy Beach photo, right? I cannot think of a better example. Vietnam has it’s share, too.

I will not get into the rangerfinder versus SLR debate, but from the criteria above, clearly, both have a place, both have inherent strengths and weaknesses. Use what you have. Focus on capturing that moment instead of what gear you need.