Pacing, Patience & Persistence
Lesson 5 from: Street Photography: Capturing Unique ImagesSteve Sweatpants
Pacing, Patience & Persistence
Lesson 5 from: Street Photography: Capturing Unique ImagesSteve Sweatpants
Lessons
Lesson Info
Pacing, Patience & Persistence
I could really want to get a shot of that monorail, so I decided to walk down a couple of blocks to see if I can get a better kind of perspective to shoot the monorail coming towards me. I'm trying to walk to this crosswalk. As fast as photography is, we do have to have some kind of pacing, a persistence to it. (motorcycle rumbles) Mainly because there's so many different kinds of variables and effects that you want to have throughout the day, that sometimes you just have to wait it out a little bit to get something that you want particularly. So an example for this shot, I want a monorail coming into the frame. I think that will look really dill because you don't really get to see stuff like that. So I'ma wait it out. I don't care how long I have to wait here. If it has to be 15 minutes or 15 hours... Hopefully, not 15 hours, but I want to make sure I get the shot. This is another time that I kind of like to just observe all the other things that are around me, too, that kind of help ...
pass the time, so... shit. (camera shutter clicks) (monorail loudly rumbles) Came too fast. Give me no sign. (Steve laughs) It just pulled up. He was like driving... So now I'm going to try it again. I've got something, though. Huh! Not bad... need to do a little bit better. I got something that was actually not that bad, but I had in mind something a little bit different. I kind of just wanted to try a couple of different scenarios with the monorail. Like I have something that it kind of positions the driver with a little bit of... I don't even know what this is. Is this a trestle? I want to get a little bit more of a perspective and not so much of the train itself, so we'll see what happens. I'm framing right now the traffic light, the streets to give it kind of like that triangle, and so, when the monorail is coming over it, it just adds another layer. Oh. (camera shutter clicks) (monorail loudly rumbles) Yes! Yes! That was cool. That was worth it. That was worth it. So the big thing with me, especially with a lot of situations, I don't really like to wait, so when it comes to waiting for a spot, even if it's not as, like I guess, as satisfying as you want it to be, you just want to make sure that you could frame it as good as possible and have something that, at least, you feel like you accomplished something when you were at that exact location. Just like the persistence, it just comes from waiting sometimes. I guess that is possibly like the hardest thing to do for myself, is to wait. The persistence, the pacing, and all that stuff that goes along with it is just, more or less, just for every photographer, to have a really good resolve when it comes to trying to overcome a difficult situation where you're shooting something that you really want to capture. (car honks) (camera shuttle clicks) (monorail loudly rumbles) It's so silent also. That's why I feel like another part of my pacing and persistence is like your head has to constantly be on a swivel. It only works as much as you actually are putting effort into it. I feel like even if you feel like you get the shot... even if I say I get the shot, I probably don't really have the shot. I will keep on going back and back and over and over again to make sure that I try to capture it in as many angles as possible. Yeah, that's why I keep on walking up this block and further just trying to see how many different dynamic angles I can get with something like this. Oh, shit, a seaplane just went by. That was sick. That building looks crazy. (automobile engines humming) (camera shuttle clicks) This is one more crazy-looking person to pass by. Just one. (camera shuttle clicks) Pacing, patience, and persistence is probably one of the toughest things for me also mainly because my patience is very thin. But when it comes to photography, there are some moments that you have to kind of wait and see what happens instead of trying to always force the situation or try to speed things up. Like with the situation with the monorail is a really good example of waiting to see what happens. I need to take a picture of this dude. He looks... (camera shuttle clicks) He thinks... The monorail situation was very specific because you're waiting for something specific to happen within like every 10 minutes or so, and at the same time, you're trying to compose your shots differently, you're trying to make sure that you have the right frame. At the same time, I'm just happy to be able to get a really tight photo of the monorail in the first place and, hopefully, something that will still, like creatively satisfying for me, and that at the end of the day, it's all subjective anyway. A lot of the pacing and the persistence and the patience comes from, more or less, just your outlook on how it's going to be going throughout the day for you and what you're looking to shoot. Especially when it comes to shoot photography, or anything, for that matter, I think it's really important to have that kind of balance throughout the day. It's kind of hard, too. I get really caught up into looking for a certain kind of shots. Are you really getting disappointed that you don't get the shot that you're looking for? If you're a little bit patient and you have a willingness to walk to different locations to still make sure that you will be able to capture that, I think that's really important, just throughout the day just to recognize and to try to focus on. I think it's really important to document all the beat up, old-looking buildings and especially in the areas where it's changing and there's a lot of gentrification, mainly because it's not about a pity party or anything like that. It's more or less the documentation aspect of it. All this stuff is changing constantly. It kind of sucks that nobody appreciates, even like the old, little building on the corner, mainly because that's like a piece of history and that's something that's going to be changing because of the environment. It's all good, but if there was no photo of the Franklin Apartments on the corner, nobody woulda even knew what it would look like. Not to say that it wasn't the most important thing, but I think that when it comes to documenting the neighborhood and documenting certain things that are probably not the most glamorous, it's important to have an element of being down to earth and showing where this stuff comes from. Because all these photos will become old eventually, and then it will be really cool to look back on to see what it used to look like.
Ratings and Reviews
Gary Hook
Steve is an engaging and 'real' sincere individual. I enjoyed his tips and having them highlighted on the screen was effective. Might be nice to detail them out and offer it up as a download. Some of the best take-aways for myself was the angles and reflections in the puddles. Hadn't thought of that before and see some great potential. Did n't really talk about lighting and time of day and his thoughts on what each situation offers. Overall enjoyed the course
Judith Frost
Absolutely terrific class! Steve is so relatable as a human being, and his approach to street photography reflects that. I took another street photography course that was good in many respects but focused a lot on the big stories a million miles away. Steve's philosophy and approach to small things happening in my own backyard are both inspiring and helpful. Bravo!
MikeD
Feel the people, feel the scene, feel the vibe of your location; now, frame the image you feel in your camera and take the shot. Also, be happy, have fun. Steve takes a bit over an hour to say this and provides a lot of video of him trying to do it. It's an interesting watch, some good advice and a few tips on how to push through when things are tough.