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Charlotte K. Lowrie is a Seattle-based freelance editorial photographer and
writer. You can see more of her work at http://wordsandphotos.org.
Selected quotes from “The Mind’s Eye, Writing on Photography and
Photographers,” by Henri Cartier-Bresson, published by Aperture.
Henri Cartier-Bresson spoke eloquently and passionately of using the camera
to tell picture stories. Making a picture story, in his view, required that
the photographer’s “brain, eye and heart” work together to
capture an unfolding process. For some photographers, myself included, the heart
of photography exists most vibrantly in the picture stories that unfold every
day on city streets. Street photography has the singular ability to bring the
nightly news to a personal level. When you shoot on the street, people in the
news are no longer vague, faceless statistics—they are the people standing
next to you on a street corner.
It’s possible to spend months shooting scenes of everyday life on the
streets—and it’s equally possible to suddenly find yourself in the
center of a developing drama. For example, purely by chance, I’ve found
myself photographing an attempted kidnapping, a deranged sniper aiming a rifle
into a courthouse window, and a local sheriff’s water rescue team saving
a pleasure boat along with its terrified occupants, from sinking into the deep,
chilly waters of Lake Washington.
When street shooting suddenly becomes a drama, it’s possible to shoot
hundreds of images. But the shots count only if you can ultimately tell the
whole story, from the first moment to the last “decisive moment”
that wraps up the story. Is there a secret to getting a classic picture story?
From my experience, the answer is no. Instead, making a picture story is a sequence
of preparation, finesse, awareness, and of course, a passion for telling stories.
Eyes Wide Open
There is nothing more important in street shooting than having an acute awareness
of what’s going on around you at all times. Certainly this awareness helps
ensure your personal safety, but more importantly, acute awareness puts the
photographer in touch with the heartbeat of the city—that palpable throb
of life in progress that makes street photography compelling and addictive.
For me, the awareness always pays high dividends. After an afternoon of shooting
downtown Seattle, I was ready to pack up and drive home. But my heightened awareness
had me pause to look across the street one last time. Among the crowds of pedestrians,
I saw two policemen leaning against a building. One policeman had a high-powered
rifle trained on an historic hotel that I had photographed only moments earlier.
I swung the camera to my eye. With a single glance in the viewfinder, I realized
that the pedestrians seemed oblivious to the well-armed officer only steps away.
Through the viewfinder, I watched incredulously as pedestrians walked around
the officers to buy lattes at the coffee stand directly in front of the policemen.
Instinctive Exposure
In situations like this, my internal mantra automatically kicks in, telling
me to “open up and stay focused on the subject.” I instinctively
open up the aperture, often shooting an entire sequence at f/2.8 or f/4. In
the sniper incident, for example, the action moved between bright sunlight on
the police side of the street to deep shade on the sniper side. With a wide
aperture, I could move from sunlight to shade and be fairly certain of getting
sharp handheld images and acceptable exposures in the bright light. Also, by
shooting wide open, background signs, billboards, power lines, and bus cables
blurred nicely into the background.
The second half of the mantra is harder—regardless of how heavy a long
lens feels after five or 10 minutes, I know that if I lose focus on the scene,
I risk losing the shots that will ultimately create the color and texture of
the story. Of course, another instinctive thought—particularly after a
full afternoon of shooting—is how much storage remains on the media card.
To ensure uninterrupted shooting, I keep a spare empty media card in my pocket.
If an interesting scene develops, I swap in the fresh card at the first break
in action.
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As this sniper scene developed, police began clearing the area
around the scene including removing this street person who chose
an inopportune time to stage a sit-in.
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Fading Into The Scene
As street action develops, police, fire, and security personnel begin to move
spectators, business owners—and, of course photographers—back from
the scene. This is a good time to have a strategy that ensures the longest amount
of close shooting time possible. My strategy is to blend in with the business
owners, to strike up casual conversations with the officials on the scene, and
most important, to project a sense of being one with the environment. At the
same time, I’m careful to not obstruct police as they secure the area.
And in the few instances when I’m asked who I am and why I’m there,
I simply say that I’m a freelance photojournalist.
Often safety officials around the perimeter are charged with crowd control.
Because they’re not directly involved in the action, they’re more
amenable to keeping the original group of bystanders informed about the situation.
This information is invaluable for understanding the story and planning ongoing
shots.
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Although police and rescue teams were aware that I was photographing
the rescue, I stayed on the sidelines and no one asked me to move
or to stop taking pictures.
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Unobstructed And Safe Shooting Positions
Getting compelling shots depends partly on a good, unobstructed shooting position.
In dangerous situations, the best shooting positions are the places where you
can safely stand or kneel without obstructing officials or getting yourself
shot or injured. As I chat with other bystanders and safety officials, I ask
about access to interior positions such as second-story windows or rooftops,
if I think that these positions would be better than street-level shooting.
Otherwise, I stay where I am and look for unobstructed shooting positions. And
if I decide to move, I do so just inches at a time so that my movement attracts
little or no attention.
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