What inspires you ? What actually makes you stop, look again and then think about what you just saw? What really makes you tick?
I was inspired really young, my journey in to photography started well before puberty and certainly before the opposite sex became more important than a roll of kodak film. My late grandfather was my inspiration; of the first kind. I looked in awe at his camera gear. All shiny and black, so heavy but so important. Touching it was out of the question, ironically if I could have seen myself in the future and the way I throw around a DSLR these days it would have horrified me so much I probably wouldn’t have taken up the hobby.
Cameras were like house bricks back in the late 1970’s. Built in the Soviet Union from a block of metal that was so heavy it gave you a spinal defect. Carrying one around the Lake District for a day took some planning let me tell you. I Still find it hard to believe that the man who inspired me carried two at the same time. All that to save changing lenses.
My late grandfather was a tremendous photographer; one who missed his way in life. A Foreman at a large engineering firm based in Bradford who’d previously served in the British Army. A very intelligent and proud gentleman who would do anything to help you. He always had the time to show you how, why and when. I msis him dearly.
I often think about what he would say to me now twenty years on… I have accomplished far more than I could have ever imagined in my photography journey. Incidentally, I despise that phrase. But it fits. He missed the advent of digital, just. I recall showing him some images on a Fuji Finepix s2600 zoom and it really blew his mind. I’m not entirely convinced that he fully understood the concept as he kept referring to the quality of the screen and how it ….
could be larger so he could actually see the images. Amazing how the passage of time.
Its very strange to think that from the first ventures in to photography by Deguerre & Niepce in the 1800’s to the position that we are in now is actually relatively short. Two hundred years to achieve instant images. My steps from film to digital became a little jagged. The college had a digital camera, afterall it was in its infancy but my learning plan still revolved around traditional black and white film and manual processing and printing. It didn’t matter, I absolutely loved it.
This was my second inspiration. The study of the war photographers; the ones that captured every moment of every day only to have their work censored by the German Army. Hitting the press took on a whole new meaning in those times, everything took days and even weeks to reach the front page. When it did eventually become available for public viewing it had been censored so much that the story took on a whole new meaning.
The photographers took on a whole new level of responsibility, telling tale as they saw it but using their style to hide the real meaning within the image. `Henri Cartier-Bresson (HCB) was probably the most famous of them all and its not difficult to see why.
The guy was a genius behind the camera, something that was all too familiar amongst the french meda. I won’t go in to too much detail as too why as this will detract from my post, maybe I could write a little more about this at a later day
The birth of my street photography was down to HCB. Doesn’t he have a lot to answer for?
The third and final inspiration was myself. What better critic and supporter do you have than yourself? Looking at your own work and saying to yourself “thats not good enough” or “wow!” takes some doing let me tell you now. Years and years of confidence building and gaining experience doing many different types of photography was the key.
I began learning how to search for the perfect image. I am not talking about browsing Google but learning to see. Even when out with no camera I looked everywhere for the “perfect shot”, the one with timing that was critical, the one where the story was told in whole. Sounds easy doesn’t it? Its not! Let me say from the off…. It really isn’t. I have spent a lifetime perfecting the art and developing a style. I am going to provide an article on “Photographic Style” in the coming weeks….
In the meantime … enjoy your day.