11 minute read
An eye for the “Decisive moment”
Mike Langford GM HF LMNZIPP GM FAIPP
Is travel photography just a form of street photography, or is it actually much more than this?
Wikipedia describes it thus: ‘Street photography is conducted for art or enquiry that features unmediated chance encounters and random incidents within public places.’
In many ways travel photography has a lot in common with street photography, in that they are both looking for that “decisive moment (as coined by Cartier-Bresson back in the 1930s) when form, content, vision and composition are merged into a transcendent whole."
What travel photography adds to street photography is a sense of place or culture. A point when there is a decisive moment but you also have an understanding of where you are in terms of landscape or culture, something street photography isn’t all that concerned with.
Maybe in travel photography, it’s just that everything is turned around the other way ̶ where the purpose of the image is to communicate the where, what and who of a moment, that can then have added to it a “decisive moment” when everything is merged into a transcendent whole.
To illustrate these thoughts, I will talk about a series of shots I took a couple of years ago while in Tibet, mostly in Lhasa.
By understanding what you want to say in an image, you can make all the necessary decisions at the time of shooting.
Once you have identified the subject, you can then choose the appropriate lens, aperture, shutter speed and exposure. All of these things can change when you change your subject, as can be seen by comparing Barkhor street one and two.
Barkhor Square 1
Canon EOS 5D Mark III, EF 24-70mm f/4 IS USM Focal length 60 mm, f/8, 1/ 800 ISO 100 This slightly compressed viewpoint of 60 mm allows me to put the person in the context of the space in which she is in. By selecting an aperture of f/8, I make her the sharpest object in the frame but still allow enough detail in the background to allow visual context. By crouching down quite low, I have also made her look more dominant. The separation of the prayer wheel against the light juniper smoke in the background is the cultural key to the image.
Barkhor Square 2
Canon EOS 5D Mark III, EF 24-70mm f/4 IS USM Focal length 70 mm f/8, 1/800 ISO 100 By physically moving in closer, zooming in with my lens to 70 mm and standing up straight, I have changed the whole dynamic of the image. Now she is no longer as dominant and more involved in the scene. The background now appears closer to her and is even more out of focus.
In Barkhor Street 1, we have a real sense of place, with the focus and exposure being on the buildings and the street as opposed to the pilgrims, who we can’t engage with as they have their backs to us and who are out of focus and slightly underexposed. The result is, we are forced to look at the street and the architecture with the snow-covered mountains looming high in the background. In this shot, there is no decisive moment, but none the less it does communicate a sense of place and culture.
In the second frame, Barkhor Steet 2, the focus is specifically on the three pilgrims. They are the largest part of the frame, the sharpest part of the frame and the correctly exposed part of the frame, which is focused and exposed specifically on the pilgrims. What makes this image special is the “decisive moment”, which has captured the look of compassion from the lady on our left for the old man, who looks as if he is experiencing something very spiritual at that moment.
Barkhor Street 1
Canon EOS 5D Mark III, EF 70-200mm f/2.8 IS II USM Focal length 135 mm f/2.8, 1/250 ISO 200 This medium telephoto shot of pilgrims walking away with their backs to me show the soft bouncing light source that is illuminating the faces in the second shot looking the opposite way.
Barkhor Street 2
Canon EOS 5D Mark III, EF 70-200mm f/2.8 IS II USM Focal length 200 mm f/2.8, 1/250 ISO 200 By turning around, looking the opposite way and zooming in with my lens, I now get to focus on the softly lit faces of the pilgrims themselves. By selecting an aperture of f/2.8, I have isolated this group from everything and everyone else in the image, making them more dominant in the frame. Shooting in a vertical mode also makes them more prevalent in the overall scene.
Put simply, frame one is about the “where”, “what’’, and “who” in the image, and in that order. The second frame is all about the “who”, “what” and “where” in the image, and in that order.
Barkhor Square 1 & 2 are both “who”, “what”, “‘where” images that tell us that she is a pilgrim, the “who”, and that she is holding a prayer wheel, the “what”, and that she is in a square with juniper smoke in the background, the “where”. The wider shot of the two tells us more specifically where we are, as it lets us see the temple in the background as well. By changing the focal length of the lens as well as the angle of view, by looking from a higher viewpoint, we also change the way we see the combination of all these elements.
...Travel Photography — The “Decisive moment”
Mike Langford GM HF LMNZIPP GM FAIPP
The truer tradition of street photography is to shoot more from the hip and to be somewhat unnoticed by the subject. This was the method I used when photographing Drepung Monastery 1 & 2. The objective here was to photograph a moment in time that best represented the “who”, “what” and “where” of the situation. The only real difference between the two images is the bending forward of the pilgrim and the pouring of the liquid butter into the candle. It is those two actions that create a “decisive moment” that makes the image work.
As is the case in these two photographs, it’s important to understand that wide-angle lenses tell us about where we are. Here, even though in general terms, wide-angle lenses give you a greater depth of focus, at f/4 the focus is quite specifically on the pilgrim and his flask, making him very clearly the subject of the image.
Drepung Monastery 1 & 2
Focal length 45 mm, 1/15 sec, f/4, ISO 800 Canon EOS 5D Mark III, EF 24-70mm f/4 IS USM In the true tradition of street photography, I managed to secure myself a position that was not obvious to the pilgrims in the shot, who were then able to continue to do their devotions without being distracted by a foreigner pointing a camera in their face. The natural light from the candles created a beautiful glow on the face of the pilgrims. It was a matter of just watching and waiting for a ‘decisive moment’, when the head was lowered just a little and the liquid butter began pouring into the candle. I stayed in this position for five to ten minutes before getting the shot I was looking for.
Sometimes with travel photography, it is more just the object in the landscape that is the subject of the image. On occasions such as in the Drepung Monastery 3 & 4, the overall image is given a greater context and meaning when there is something additional to the subject, as in this case, a monk randomly walking through the scene, that suggests that the image is taken in a monastery. It’s always worth waiting around just that little bit longer to see what else happens, something that could just make the image a stronger piece of visual communication.
Drepung Monastery 3 & 4
Focal length 40 mm, 1/200 sec, f/11, ISO 100 Canon EOS 5D Mark III, EF 24-70mm f/4 IS USM Photographing the unusual is always a challenge for travel photographers, so seeing these two solar teapot heaters was a real find. What made the image work though was the arrival of monks which added the context of it being in a monastery.
In Sera Monastery 1, the eye wanders around the whole environment, finding all sorts of actions to focus on, but nothing specific. This is something that tends to happen when shooting with a mid-range lens and no strong foreground. This point of view doesn’t give you much of an environment, nor does it tell you anything specific. It sits you in a “no man’s land”, with no real statement either way. This is one reason why I like to shoot either wide or long, as both of these points of view are statements in themselves.
In Sera Monastery 2, by changing my viewpoint to that of a long telephoto lens, I’m able to eliminate all the visual distractions and cut to the subject of the photograph, which is the debate between the two monks.
Sera Monastery 1
Focal length 70 mm, 1/250 sec, f/8, ISO 100 Canon EOS 5D Mark III, EF 24-70mm f/4 IS USM Photographing monks debating was always a challenge, as even though there weren’t ropes around the debating area, you nonetheless knew that it was a no go area. Including the debating area at least gave reference to where they were (which is what wider-angle lenses do very well). This image was more a matter of timing – when everyone in the shot was active and engaged in one way or another.
Sera Monastery 2
Focal length 255 mm, 1/320 sec, f/6.3, ISO 200 Canon EOS 5D Mark III, EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS II USM + 1.4xIII This second shot of the debating is much more specific, and even though I didn’t have a lens longer than 200 mm, I had a 1.4 tele converter with me, which managed to do the trick of getting me in close and to focus on the debating action. f/6.3 was just deep enough to keep both the hand and the other monks face sharp.
...Travel Photography — The “Decisive moment”
Mike Langford GM HF LMNZIPP GM FAIPP
Gyantse Tea House 1 & 2. I always try to include our guides in some of my travel shots, as they are a very real part of the experience. It’s the same for me when I’m travelling with anyone. I always photograph them as a part of my story, as the reality is that I’m not alone in the wilderness, so why pretend? For me, they are a part of the story and need to be included for it to reflect what it was really like. The first shot is just an obvious portrait that lacks character and doesn’t indicate where we are. By staying with the shot a little longer, I have managed to introduce some action that adds to the overall character of this Tea House. In the first shot, the background is a little distracting, whereas in the second the background supports the environment and the action creates a decisive moment.
Gyantse Tea House 1 & 2
Focal length 24 mm, 1/50 sec, f/4, ISO 800 Canon EOS 5D Mark III, EF 24-70mm f/4 IS USM I always make a point of photographing our guides whenever we hire one. The first shot is an obvious portrait that lacks character nor indicates where we are. By staying with the shot a little longer, I have managed to introduce some action that adds to the overall character of this Tea House. In the first shot, the background is a little distracting, whereas, in the second, the background supports the environment, and the action creates a decisive moment.
The photograph of the Forbidden City Guards shows a totally different technique that still has the mind’s eye of the street photographer looking for a decisive moment, but also incorporates a technique that is more often applied to landscapes in which things that move blur and those that don’t move remain sharp. This took several attempts to get right as there were so many variables involved. Even though I remained unnoticed by the main subjects (I thought), I was far enough away not to be obvious to most of the people in the frame and so was ignored.
In summary, travel photography, in my mind, is a combination of many photographic styles, and often includes “street photography”.
Forbidden City Guards
Focal length 200 mm, 1/6 sec, f/32, ISO 100, Circular polarizer, Tripod. Canon EOS 5D Mark III, EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS II USM What, street photography on a tripod! To get this shot looking the way it is, it was necessary to create a long exposure so that everyone moving blurred and those that didn’t remain sharp. By choosing the smallest aperture of f/32 and using a circular polarizer, I managed to get a shutter speed of 1/6 sec, which was slow enough to create some blur. It took several shots before I got one that worked. The critical factor in this was using a tripod to stop camera shake.
