I love this early evening photo of a group of older Italians on the sidewalks in Siena. The light was dropping fast and the group and handshake was fleeting. I was using an old, fully manual Hasselblad, with a 100mm f3.5 Planar lens. I focused by looking at the focusing ring and setting it to an approximate distance based on previous experience. I didn't have time to meter but guessed that the exposure was something like f5.6 at 1/15th of a second. I'd been watching the light fall and was aware of the range. I tugged down on the the neck strap to stabilize the camera and then, composing through the dim waist level viewfinder, I clicked off two frames. Only one of which caught the handshake.
Everything happened quickly. You can see by looking at the woman just to the back of and to the right of the man in the light colored suit how slow the shutter speed was. Her face was blurred by her quick movement during the exposure.
Would a modern camera make a better shot? It might make a sharper or more noise free shot but at what cost? I think the motion and softness of the image, as well as the two-and-a-quarter inch, square format's trademark depth of field, is at least as important as those other parameters. But the essential piece of the puzzle is always just to be present with your camera and to keep your attention on the swirl of life around you. Nothing else really matters.
Hmm..... 100mm Planar on 2 1/4, much like the view of 65mm f/2 Sigma. The times they are a' changing ?
ReplyDeleteNot as much as we might think...
ReplyDeleteYeah .hit the nail on the head there.
ReplyDeleteI'd even argue that the modern shot might be worse. Spontenaity lost in trying to freeze the motion, shoot for ultimate sharpness or get lost in a spray of fire and forget.
Of course it doesn't need to be... That said,it often is...
Lovely shot
Mark
Outstanding image! I think photographers get hung up on all the technical stuff and not seeing the picture as it unfolds.
ReplyDeleteNobody cares what you shot it on, all the viewer cares about is the picture.
Just make you wear good running shoes when you're out...you never know running might be handy.