Working Notes: a commonplace notebook for recording & exploring ideas.
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Photographs Greg Williams
- Taking candid photos
- Participant
- Interact with the target, direct them to tell a story
- Build a first person story
- Have them look /into/ the lens
- Sometimes be the observer
- humble, small body language
- Consciously decide if you want to be a participant or the observer
- Have empathy: stepping in, out
- When /not/ to take a picture
- "It's us showing the world how we /see/ the world"
- Can direct someone to take /your/ picture
- This is uncomfortable (for me), but can be fun
- "Sell" your vision; go in with the intention of getting along
- Light
- Diffusion, size of light, distance from observer, position relative to observer
- Key light = dominant light in the situation
- Front/side/back light
- Most common: 45 degree angle
- Side light is very common for creating evocative portraits
- Greg prefers backlight, that creates soft light in front to hide imperfections, and acts as a dramatic image
- Treat light as a gift, make the most of it -- stay in control
- Don't need to light the subject and their eyes
- Exposure
- Expose for your subject
- Trust your eyes -- camera sees more constrant
- New York is amazing because of how the light falls through buildings
- Environment
- Be grateful for the moment -- and use it
- There are pictures everywhere
- Work quickly
- Don't slow down with light meters, etc. -- use the advantages of digital cameras
- "Make the most of what you've got"
- Light / elements -- do they relate to/contrast with the person?
- Add frames
- Perspective / vanishing point / shapes that lead the eye
- It's always about the /person/ within the environment
- Homework to do
- Photograph while making them laugh
- Photograph as an observer
- "Read" the light in photographs
- Photograph against a white and a dark background
- Take a picture in a boring environment
— Kunal