The Cops Are On My Ceiling

What is a camera obscura? I did not find out till too long ago myself. If you do not know, just go Google it if you want more answer than this: if you black out a room and allow light in through a small hole, you will have a live, color, (upside down and backwards,) movie of life outside displayed inside your room. It is like a giant eyeball or like you are inside your camera.

Oh, you are, though…inside your camera that is. A literal translation of “camera obscura” from Italian, is simply “dark room”. So, you are in your camera, i.e. room.

I did this as a fun aside from daily life for my son’s birthday, today. I knew it was possible, and with our new black out drapes, it could become a reality. Actually, to test out the idea, all I did at first was wrap the drapes around a toilet paper tube, and even with terrible light leaks, I got discernible images of cars and trucks rolling across my ceiling.

Once I spent more time blacking the room out (though we still had plenty of light leaks), and replaced the toilet paper tube with a folder with a one-inch circle cut out, I filled almost half the room (ceiling, walls, and floor) with the upside down, backwards movie of the street outside. I had to frame the ceiling fan in the shot above for proof, as if the wildly skewed, oddly colored police truck were not convincing enough.

Try it! It’s a blast. All you need to do to get started is steal the toilet paper for a few minutes.

I took the camera out to Big Lake with us Saturday and saw some really good shots, yet somehow, I took no shots. There is going to have to be a shift for me to do more shooting. I don’t have extra time on the weekends to go out and shoot like I would like to. So, I’m thinking that as I go and do the many things that have to be done I need to set in my mind that I’m going to have to slow down and take some shots. There was a town that we passed through that was like we just stepped out of Texas and into Old Mexico. The building architecture shifted. Would have been some great shots, but alas, I was in too big a hurry to get home.

Yes, one solution may be to slow down the pace of your life so that when you do see opportunities, you can stop to take them. That is really a big change, though. It is hard to completely change the pace of your life just to shoot more. I cannot tell you how many picturesque little towns I have driven right through…crying for the lost opportunity.

Part of my solution has been to keep my camera with me at all times. I <strong>rarely</strong> would have time to stop and capture the essence of a town. However, I <strong>often</strong> have time to take a few shots of this or that. That is a five minute change as opposed to a one hour change in plans…much more workable.

Sure, I think it would be good for the soul to stop every once in a while. Break the schedule (if the wife permits, hehe). Savor the moment. Life is too short to always drive through, but I have to be honest that such a big change would be hard to practically implement.

Another part of my solution has been to combine a photwalk with a normal fun walk with the boy. He likes going out and just seeing things, and that is exactly what I would like to photograph: stuff, life, people, places, neighborhoods, etc. So, for the past few weeks, we have been going out on Saturday morning walks. He is in the stroller and if I want to stop for a few minutes to shoot, he rarely cares…as long as there are birds, dogs, roosters, cars, truck, bike, and the like to keep him amazed.

This Saturday morning walk is just one example, but photography can be woven into many different aspects of life. I have let myself become the photo nerd who always carries his camera. Much of the time, it just stays strapped to my back collecting sweat (we are in Thailand, after all), but it is there and ready to be woven into life when opportunity knocks.

Sometimes people ask (or recently, politely force) me to take photos of such and such an event. And other times, I just do it anyway. They like the photos; I get to shoot more. Though the subject matter might not be the most inspirational you have ever seen, you are gaining experience with every frame, so that when that inspirational moment does arrive, not only do you have your camera on hand, but you know exactly what needs to be done to make that photo work.

The old stand by for me is to do everything short of actually asking somebody if I could take a photo of them. Sometimes, I did get the tacit “ok” with eye communication, and that is fine, but more often than not, by the time the approval came, I had already shot the shots I really wanted. It all depended on the situation.

I am not trying to take advantage of anybody, but firmly believe that in most cases, the best moments are spontaneous: the best smiles, the most fun, the real person behind that face. Those are the moments I want to capture. There is more to it, though.

It is all about trust. The best situation is when the people know you already. Everybody is comfortable and they do not really mind you picking up the camera every once in a while and shooting around. Just this past Sunday, I was able to catch some great shots of kids lying around on the floor, relaxing on each other, and just spending a lazy Sunday afternoon. When I picked up my camera, none of them flinched. They knew me, trusted me, and had nothing to prove.

Similar to this is a situation where you are no necessarily known (not personally, anyway), but you are trusted. You are the photographer of the event, and they all know it.

So, what about all the other situations, where you are not known and trusted? Well, it still comes down to trust, of course. I mentioned the knowing look; you meet eyes, they know you are taking photos of them, and it is clear they have no problems with it. Go for it.

Recently, on occasion, I have been asking people if I could take their photo. I do this in situations where I cannot sneak anything. It is either ask or just not take the photo. So, I have been using this more and more just so I can get used to still catching a natural image even though they know full well I am shooting. For me, it is just different, and I want to get better. So, I am looking for opportunities to use this new tool.

A lot of this photographing strangers business has to do with naturalness. If you act like paparazzi, you will be treated so. If you respect their space, their life, and maybe even have a little conversation here and there, people will most likely warm up to you. If they do not, respect that too, and move on. And speaking of, if somebody really has an issue with a picture you just took, go ahead and show them the photo and delete it in front of them, if necessary.

And on the topic, use those LCD screens to your advantage. A lot of the time, people do not quite know what to think. When there is obvious nervousness, immediately just go up and show them the shot. The majority of the time, seeing they are not heinously ugly or that you have not manipulated them in any way, they will smile and be pleased that they just had their photo taken. And if it was a particularly good photo, well, all the better. Too few people out there have good photos of themselves. You might even end up e-mailing photos to them.

I guess to sum up my thoughts, there are no rules. It is not a do this and do that kind of thing. Respect people. Be natural and friendly. That will take you a long way.

Following a comment on a post of mine a few days ago, I have been thinking about shutter noise. I unashamedly like quiet and I really notice when a camera is not quiet, even though that statement is quite relative. I was all excited to see the Sony a900 (this is the camera that brought up the topic in the first place) in the store and I picked it up to give it a few test shots. Ergonomics, handling, buttons: good. Style: very Sony-ish, but I like it (I like it more than the other Sonys). Then, I pressed the shutter release. KER-PLUNCK! Holy cow! That sound alone would take lots of great features and a very low price for me to actually think about buying one.And Mal (my honored commenter), I mean no disrespect. This post is not written to tear somebody else down or, in any way, to make my way sound like the best way. That comment just got me thinking, and I wanted to share some of my thoughts on why (to me) a loud shutter really matters.

I know, this is yet another in a long list of topics that I think about but almost nobody else does. Well, that is not totally true, but the internet does gives us a false sense of perspective sometimes, making unimportant things out to be incredibly important. Even though a hundred people comment on a blog entry on any particular topic, that does not necessarily mean there is even a slim chance I will ever meet anybody in flesh and blood that could care less.

I care, though. Here is why. The reader comment I mentioned above said it should not matter unless the photographer was into stealth photography. Well, not necessarily. It has to deal with the interaction between photographer and subject. If your subject is a mountain and trees, well, then no it does not matter (unless you have really sensitive ears, I guess). If however, your subject is human, it will matter, because humans react to things like that.

I do not want to dive into a Leica-esque philosophical debate, but they do have a point when it comes to leaving as little a footprint as possible. What I mean is this: even if somebody has given me permission to shoot, sometimes the difference between a subtle camera sound and an obvious one could change their reaction and totally change the face I capture. If they are a model, probably not, but I rarely shoot models. I shoot normal people.

My camera is no Leica (I could only be so fortunate), but it is not terribly loud. I have seen faces change that ruin the situation because of sound alone. Maybe I got the shot I wanted on the first try and I can quit; maybe their reaction to the sound ruined my opportunity to keep trying for a better shot.

We even see this issue playing out, in part, in point and shoot cameras. I detest their I’m-taking-a-picture announcements. Again, feel free to not care, but it can make a huge difference. Those beeps and fake shutter noises are just begging your subject to give you their fake smile or break up that natural moment you wanted to capture.

I think the point is this: the more quiet the camera, the more likely the photographer is forgotten and the more likely the situation will continue on naturally without the nervous feeling of being recorded. That means better photos. That means more photos. That is not to mention the feeling of comfort of the subject (though this is just one small issue in the greater issue in that case). This is all important when you need to capture that special moment, that perfect expression. Well, you could just get lucky on the first shot, but besides incredible luck, staying low key always improves your chances.

This is much the same reason I shoot only prime lenses. Well, price, aperture, and quality are other big factors there, but still, you are not carrying around Big Bertha. Keep from drawing undue attention to yourself.

And that is why the quieter your camera is the better.