
The greatest hindrance to photojournalism is colour.
Magnum photographer Philip Jones Griffiths
The Welshman took an hour to show some of the pictures taken throughout his career, followed by an enlightening question and answer session. He is well known for his images from the Vietnam war, which seems to have been a turning point in his personal and professional life. Some interesting questions came up, amongst them working style (he does not seem to be a great fan of Nachtwey) and the question about why all his images are in black & white. The answer to this was brief and, of course, subjective. He was also referring to a piece called “The curse of colour” he had written for a Swiss magazine, which I cannot seem to find online.
During the session I realised that the technique and working style is not that different from being out doing so-called street photography. Approaching subjects, pre-focussing and other techniques are completely identical. And why should they not be? The only difference is that these guys are paid and work on a story of sorts, whereas we are just out there for our own motives.
wow, that’s a loaded statement, hopefully you’ll add more or another post as I’m keen to hear more…
He gave the example of aid items in African refugee camps, which can be very colourful. In his own words, walking around those camps looks like Disneyland, and to avoid the distraction by the colours, he would have to use extremely wide angle or telephoto lenses to minimise the effect of the colour in the pictures. He said that his prime motive is to get a message across, and that is easier for him in black & white. That also shows you how subjective such a thing is, because you could also argue that the colour can help you bringing that message across, or that the colour is after all an element of the real world and should be shown.
Could you say a bit more about how to approach people when potographing them in public? I get sheepish. (Even if you only knew of a good URL with this info, that would help — every time I do searches I end up with sales pitches for books.)
Good question, and indeed it is a challenge.
Suffice to say: it’s all in the head. Remember that besides of a photographer, you are also a person and a fellow human being of the people you want to photograph. Follow your instincts while still trying to overcome your fear. Above all you have to believe in what you are doing. This will make you feel more confident as you will feel legitimate for what you are trying to do.
Maybe these links will help you.
http://www.johnbrownlow.com/phb/techniques/shynessone.html
http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=008uK8
And maybe browse and search the rest of the Street & Doc forum at photo.net http://www.photo.net/bboard/forum?topic_id=2061
Feel free to come back with questions and we can get more specific. Your long term goal will have to be: short lenses and short distances – and people from front, not behind. Good luck!
Mm, I wonder where that was. I wish that I’d known of it, and that I’d gone. Now of course my chance to hear PJG has gone.
pinkheadedbug.com (linked in the previous message) has been grabbed by a domain name squatter. However, the original site lives on, and the shyness essay now starts at http://www.johnbrownlow.com/phb/techniques/shynessone.html