In October I was fortunate enough to be able to take a
workshop with Nevada Weir, who is known for her travel photography. In addition
to being a spellbinding storyteller she has a knack for pushing students out of
their comfort zones. One way she did this was to send us out to shoot
environmental portraits with a wide-angle lens. The idea was to capture images
of people in their environment. The thing about a wide-angle lens is that you
have to get right up on top of someone to get anything interesting. It’s very
different from using a telephoto lens that allows you to shoot people from a
distance. I find that there is something more honest about engaging people and
getting their collaboration in the image making process. They can say no. But
you respect their right to say no and when they say yes something really
magical begins to happen. You are treating them like a person and not like an
object. Plus, you learn a lot about what matters to them.
The first two images on this post are from that shoot. But
the experience energized me and made me want to begin to capture images of
people working. I was especially interested in photographing window washers.
I’ve always been a bit in awe of people who will dangle from ropes to clean windows
of tall buildings. A few weeks later I had an opportunity to capture Thomas,
one of the men who washes windows in our building.
I was delighted with the images I was able to capture and
wanted to thank him. Today he was back outside my window so I was able to print
out the final image on this post and give it to him.
Now if I could just figure out how to get on a tugboat.
Images
- of merchants at Pike’s Place Market and of window washer on the side of our
building - taken October 2008
Really nice work. Hey! I've got a tugboat! But I suppose you mean the kind with the big tires and big wakes. :^ )
Posted by: Bruce | December 03, 2008 at 09:23 AM