What this images means to me.

This image is very interesting for me; a definite learning experience. The reason? This scene stopped me in my tracks, literally. I just knew there was an image there to be made. It wasn’t conscious, it was instinctive. But there is more to it to why I find it interesting. Let me explain.

I decided to take a day to just photograph ‘things’. Anything. Just walk around the city and look for images. But with one rule: there could be no people in the image. And that is something I rarely do – I always have people in the images I create. It’s the only reason why I photograph. It is completely foreign to me to try and create an image without a person in it. But I like to grow and improve my photographic skills, so, sometimes I force myself to do this. This day was the fourth time in the last 13 years that I’ve tried it.

So, off I went, grabbed the early bus and went to Toronto to beat the sunrise, and the crowds. Took the camera out, turned it on, and completely felt self-conscious. It was so strange, but I felt so awkward standing there, ready to take pictures. Why? Pictures of what? See, that’s the thing. I didn’t have an agenda – just go out with an open mind and let creativity happen. So, I’m standing there, and nothing was happening!

So, I let it go. I just stood there and let my self take it all in, feel the energy of the city, and let it happen. And things started to happen slowly. I did start to see some images after a few minutes. Nothing amazing, but enough to turn on the camera and make an attempt. But I will admit, it was a struggle.

But when that happens, even when I’m out photographing people and not finding anything, I just start walking. And that’s when things started to happen. And that’s the point of this blog: seeing photographs. Seeing images. Looking at the world photographically. Finding images, not with intention, as if, you have a list that might include: photograph everything that has the colour red, as an example. That is not how I work. I go out with a blank slate, just take it all in, and be moved to make an image. That’s the trick. You let it happen, don’t force it. But if you’ve never tried this, it take some getting used to.

And so I’m walking around, camera ready to go, enjoying the early morning, and looking for images. And looking, looking some more, and nothing was happening. And that is just part of it, and it’s to be expected when you start. And if you think about it, it make perfect sense. Most of the time we are just walking from point A to point B, oblivious to our surroundings, focused only on getting to our destination, talking with the person we’re with, or talking on the phone.

But when you open your eyes, sometimes for the first time, and really look – fully open your mind to what is in front of you, and take it all in, just for the purpose of seeing, that’s when it hits you. Doing this is quite easy to do while travelling, say, to the Grand Canyon, in Arizona, USA, because that’s the point, you are going to ‘see’ this spectacle. But when you are out walking around where you live, possibly the same walk you’ve done for your entire life, you don’t actually see it. And I mean that. Most of the time people are just walking around the city in a daze, and I have many images to prove it, and that is part of why street photography isn’t as difficult as you may think. Everyone is lost in their own world. But today, I’m not making picture of people, so enough on that subject for now.

Okay, back to the picture in this blog that I find interesting. Again, I’m out just walking around, looking without an agenda, and hoping to find something. And nothing was happening, I wasn’t seeing anything that jumped out at me – hey, there’s an image! Nope, just keep walking. But then it started to happen. It’s hard to explain, but when it happens, it’s quite magical. You just see it. It hits you, and you know it. Right in front of you, there is a picture to be made. Somewhere deep in your mind, there was something that just fits, and you subconsciously connect it to one of the countless ‘images’ you’ve seen over your lifetime. And that is exactly what happened with the image in this blog. And it is so exciting when it happens, and you know you have an image.

The story behind this image (I’ll keep it brief). I started off the day on my own, but later met my son downtown, had some lunch, and went shopping. I turned off the camera and was just enjoying my time with him. But I didn’t turn off ‘seeing’, that’s something I just can’t do after photographing for so long. So we were on our way to Kensington Market to go shopping for vintage clothing. And I was ‘looking’ at my surrounding, but wasn’t photographing. And to be honest, it was the middle of the day, with a very bright sun straight over head, which is typically not the best time to make images, as the common thought goes. But to me, that’s just an excuse. Pictures can be made at any time, and anywhere, if you know how to see. But at that time, I wasn’t seeing anything: boring, boring, nothing, nothing, boring – then it hit me like a tone of bricks! It literally stopped me in my tracks, and I said “Woe, there it is!” (or something like that). The colour! The way the light was hitting it! I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

But I was also conscious of my son, and I didn’t want to waste his time; he wanted to shop. So, I quickly turned on the camera, held it up to my eye, flicked the dial to underexposed by 1 or 2 stops (wasn’t even aware of the aperture) – but then something magical (and lucky) happened: I heard a person walk right past me, so I hesitated slightly for them to enter the frame, and pressed the button. And that one image, is the one you are looking at in this post, and it was the only image I created of this scene. It took 30 seconds? I didn’t even think, it just happened – instinctively. And that’s the exciting part, as I’ll explain below. But that was it, I only ‘took’ one image, then we continued on our way to go shopping. And the reason for that, other than not wanting to waste my son’s time, was that I knew I had the image. I didn’t even look at it, mainly because the person quickly turned around and I wasn’t into being confronted by ‘taking’ his image. That part I knew from experience: when you press the button and ‘take’ a picture of a stranger – you immediately pretend to not be doing just that, so the person thinks you are doing something – anything else. I’ve been confronted; it’s not fun.

But some would say this was pure luck. I don’t believe so. And this is not to brag, this is just my practical explanation of what happened, and to me, this is important. This is how I learn, so I can improve my skills. I’m obsessed with this kind of thing. My subconscious mind, and my instincts took over – in the moment. I believe what happened was that my mind recognized the image instantly, but when the person, who I didn’t actually see until they were in the viewfinder (only heard them waking by me) – my instincts took over. In the moment, I wasn’t thinking ‘rule of thirds’ or anything silly like that. I wasn’t thinking about anything, it was happening so fast. I didn’t even see the unfortunate sign right above his head! It just happened. And that’s what I love about street photography – 1/8000’s of a second, and an image is created, never to be repeated exactly the same way. And when it’s a keeper, to me, that is priceless, and extremely addictive.

At first glance, if you are familiar with street photography in general, this kind of image is quite common. And the practice goes with this ‘type’ of street photography, that you go looking for a nice ‘background’ like this, and you wait for the perfect ‘subject’ to enter the scene, and press the button right at the perfect time. But my image here didn’t happen like that at all, as I’ve just explained. To me, the ‘subject’ was the beautiful colour of the wall, and the way the light was hitting it. That’s what I was wanting to take a picture of – the person just happened to be walking by right when I was ‘taking’ the ‘shot’. That’s the magical part.

Plus, the idea of finding a nice background and waiting for someone to enter it – to complete the image, is absolutely the most boring way for me to photograph. I explain this in the previous blog post “I am not a street photographer”, and you can refer to it if you’d like. But the point is that, this image looks like that way of photographing, typical of what’s known as ‘street’ photography. And I’ve tried working this way. But it’s just not for me. I’m too impatient, and I get frustrated very quickly thinking that I’m missing too many images if I kept walking, and looking for the crowds.

Anyways, that’s it for now. I just wanted to explain that there is always more behind an image than one would think. Especially when you go out to ‘make’ and images with intent – otherwise, it’s called a ‘snapshot’.

But the best part, was that my son witnessed all of it in the moment! And hopefully, with this blog post, the moment will be kept.

Oh, for those interested, I looked, the settings were: ISO 100, f/4.0, and 1/4000, Canon 5DSR, EF 35mm f/1.4 L (first gen). Not that that means anything at all. In the moment, all I was thinking was to underexpose to keep the detail.

Until next time, thank you for your time, Mike, 06272026