Set Up or Found?

Which gives you the most pleasure in photography, a picture that was snapped very quickly or one that was planned well before the shutter was pressed? Is there more intrinsic merit in one type of photo or the other?

I enjoy both types of photography. My Making Music series of pictures fall squarely into the second category. I thought hard about each image long before I talked to the musician about what I wanted him to do. Whereas most of my Waste series fall into the first category. I had to react to an opportunity that presented itself. I had to identify the image, set up the camera and shoot very fast before the image disappeared for ever. My Wonderful Water set fits in between. Some of the images are grab shots and some where thought through before hand.

In order to make a set up shot, the photographer has to take into account everything. This includes the subject itself; any supporting objects; the background; the lighting and of course setting up the camera. If he gets any of this wrong it is obvious in the end result.

For a found shot, the photographer has to react to the scene in front of him and identify that a photo opportunity exists and then set the camera up appropriately. Certainly, the more you do this, the better at it you become. Then there is the question of how spontanious is a 'found' shot anyway. A landscape photogrpaher will wait a long time for the right light to fall on a scene in the right season. It could be many months or even years before the shutter is released to record a composition that has already been identified. The photo at the top of this post was about four years in the making. I realised all that time ago that the stream lines made as water drains from a beach after high tide can make interesting patterns. However, I am not a frequent visitor to beaches so it took me a long time to make the shot but I knew the sort of thing I was looking for.

When all is said and done, does it actually matter if it took the photographer ages to set up the photo or it was a grab shot? There is certainly a great deal of skill in both approaches, just the skills are different. Surely the most important thing is the result. If the photo stands up on its own merits, that is all that matters. 
Copyright © Greg Wright 2005-14 Photography from Frome - All rights reserved
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  Washed Up Waste

I took this photo earlier this week on Sandown beach on the Isle of Wight. It is amazing how much plastic waste gets washed up with sea weed by the tide. At least this lot will probably be cleaned up by the machines that clean the beach but it could so easily have ended up elsewhere, inside a sea bird or fish. 
Copyright © Greg Wright 2005-14 Photography from Frome - All rights reserved
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  Style?

Do you have a recognisable photographic style? Do I? Certainly those who see my work will be better able to judge than me. The latest edition of Amateur Photographer (UK photo magazine) has been good enough to publish my thoughts on the matter. It's in the shops until Monday. 
Copyright © Greg Wright 2005-14 Photography from Frome - All rights reserved
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  More Waste?

Those of you who have been reading this blog for some time will know that I have been working on a series of photos on the theme of waste. Certainly the picture above has a lot of rubbish in it but really it shows that the local recycling facility is too small to cope with demand. At least people are not just dumping their waste in land-fill. As the saying goes, "Reduce, reuse, recycle." 
Copyright © Greg Wright 2005-14 Photography from Frome - All rights reserved
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  Iconic Britain?

Microsoft have managed to cause a stir amongst the photographic community. They have launched a competition to find images of 'Iconic Britain'. The competition is designed to promote their LiveSearch search engine. Using LiveSearh, people had the opportunity to enter pictures that they had found using this facility. The only problem was that the thumbnails did not link back to the pages they came from and the photographers who owned the copyright were not consulted. Not surprisingly these photographers objected to their images being used to promote a Microsoft product. At least the picture included in this post will not be in the competition as it has not made the deadline!

Update: It appears that Microsoft have abandoned the competition. All votes were meant to be in by today (14 August) but there are no pictures to vote for.

Update 2: It now looks as though the competition is still on - the deadline has been extended.

 
Copyright © Greg Wright 2005-14 Photography from Frome - All rights reserved
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