Why I Don’t Photograph People

New River Gorge - copyright 2011 Andy Richards

Last week, I posted an image on a critique thread on the Scenes of Vermont Photography Forum, and my good friend and talented photographer, Carol Smith, commented that it was not my “usual” style of photograph. What made it unique for me was that it had a person in the image. It made me think. She is correct, of course. I don’t include “people” and don’t often include them in my images. Indeed, I mostly go out of my way to excludepeople from my images. There are many reasons why. Part of it is my “vision” of natural images. I most often visualize a scene as “pristine,” the way you might come upon it for the first time. It also may be partly a function of the way I approach my work. I tend to be deliberative. You do not see many images here or on my website that are candid or involve action.

Sometimes, I become so absorbed in my “process” that I miss the real photo opportunity. I like the comfort zone of my tripod and immovable objects. Carol saw and shot the Vermont image after leading a group of us to this wonderful scene in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom, of me and our mutual friend, Al Utzig. I was so deeply into the beauty of this morning and the “possibilities” of this scene, that I would never have seen this image! But it has human interest and probably more “stock” utility than the plain post-card scenic that I generated that morning.

Barton, Vermont - copyright 2011 Carol Smith

Another reason—which I don’t like to admit to myself—is that I am not very good at “people.” That stems from a combination of factors. One is that I am very hesitant to “invade” others’ “personal space.” Talented pro photographer, Ray Laskowitz, a friend, and mentor, once suggested to me that the key to photographing people is how the photographer approaches people. A perusal of his website and stock images illustrate that he does it very well indeed. Like any discipline, shooting people takes practice, and takes me out of that comfort zone. But there is little doubt that photographs including people can transform a “ho-hum,” postcard scene to a compelling image, sometimes with a “story.” Photographer, teacher and author, and a great inspiration to me, Bryan Peterson, refers in several of his books to “story telling” images. The image of my friend, Rich, shooting Hunter Brook in Acadia National Parkcertainly has a “story telling” element to it.

Photography in Acadia NP - copyright 2009 Andy Richards

If the person is identifiable, the photographer must obtain a release if they intend to ever use or publish the photograph. And, in many cases, the person may also have privacy rights that must be taken into consideration. Again, I have a tendency to use those things as detriments to my own personal motivation to include people in my images. But of course, there are equally as many situations where these are just “excuses.” I have thought back about how often there have been people in the area who were unidentifiable that could have been included in the image. I am also often with others when I photograph, and they could certainly become willing elements of the image. The People in the cable car image certainly make it more interesting to the viewer, giving scale, and “story.” After all, cable cars are about moving people.

San Francisco Cable Car - copyright 2011 Andy Richards

It is often noted that placing a familiar thing in an image gives the viewer a sense of scale, people are certainly able to provide that scale. I made this image of my sister and her Chocolate Lab, Ella, a few years ago after a rather strenuous hike back into this waterfall near Munising, in Michigan’s U.P.

Memorial Falls, Munising, MI - copyright 2008 Andy Richards

So, I clearly need to spend more time and effort outside my comfort zone and find ways to include people in my images.

Thanks for reading . . . . . .

Don’t Be Late!

Sunrise, Otter Beach, Acadia NP, Bar Harbor, ME copyright 2009 Andy Richards

I set out early one morning recently to shoot a scene I have passed by daily on my way to work lately. I had observed the time schedules and knew what time to be there. But as I was driving to the location, sunrise broke and for about 8 minutes, produced the most beautiful, orange hue, lighting the surroundings with warm, low-angled light that photographers wait for. 8 minutes!

My shot would not have been lit, by this beautiful light, as it was a downtown building scene that would have been blocked until about 20 minutes later. I arrived at my scene on time and captured the best light I was going to get for the scene. But oh, to have been bathed in that wonderful, warm, soft orange light!

You must be on site and ready, before the light happens!

The point is this. If my scene had been subject to that wonderful lighting, I would not have been there!I would have been racing to get there—and I would simply have missed it (instead, I lamented that I didn’t have a scene nearby for that light). Even if I had made it to the scene before the light changed, I would have been fumbling around with gear–not the way we want to remember and capture that scene.

Dawn, Horseshoe Lake, Huron NF, MI copyright Andy Richards

There is an old, cliche that photographers like to cleverly repeat: “F8 and be there.” But there is a key to “being there.” You must be there before the image happens. For landscape images, that usually means before the light happens. While it may not always be possible, in the best of all worlds, you will have done your homework and thoroughly planned your shoot. If possible, that means you will already have been to the scene (especially if it is a scene you have not been to before). There is only one thing more frustrating than fumbling around, trying to find a spot to park, or the trail to the shooting location, often in the twilight or even dark, while knowing that you are losing time. That one more frustrating thing is knowing all of the above, and that you are not going to be there on time! Study maps, but then, make a trial run to the scene.

In mid-October, my buddy, Rich and I have a planned trip to Babcock State Park in West Virginia to photograph the iconic Grist Mill that is the central feature of the park. While we have been assured that the “right light” for this image is early morning, we will arrive in the park on the afternoon before our planned shoot. While we will try to find some subject to shoot that afternoon, if necessary, we will gladly forego the afternoon/evening shot in order to plan how to arrive and where our best “setup” perspective will be. We also want to know where to park and how far we need to walk to get to that setup position. This is not something we will want to be doing in the dark for the first time the following morning.

You must meticulously plan your shot in advance.

Another part of the homework is knowing what lens we want to shoot with, and where the light will be coming from. These are all things that we can – and will – plan in advance of the shoot. By arriving the afternoon before, we can explore perspectives and composition, even though we are not there in the best light. One of the great advantages of digital capture is that we can shoot specimen images for review later that evening. We should be able to go into the park the following morning knowing what lens or different lens combinations we will need and the best perspectives for the shot.

This doesn’t mean we won’t deviate from those things, or try different combinations when on site. But if we have a very short window of “good light” we need to have made those fundamental decisions prior to arriving.

Sunrise Over Pond, Barton, VT copyright Andy Richards 2010

What about light angles? If you have never been to a scene before, you may have to make your best calculated guess, knowing where the sun rises at that time of year, and what time to expect that. There are some great tools out there on the internet. Sunrise/sunset calculators are easily found. A friend and participant on the SOV forums, professional photographer, Brandt Bolding, pointed out “The Photographer’s Ephemeris” (TPE), which is a free website designed for photographers. The site allows you to save “favorite places” and gives gps coordinates. It interfaces with what looks like Google Maps, including the hybrid mapping functions, and shows sunrise, sunset times, as well as the angle of the sun at different times of the day and the angle of the moon, also at different times of the day. TPE is an incredible tool that really is worth paying $$ for. Thank you, TPE author, for your generosity! Take a look at it and try it! I have used it to great advantage.

These are all controllable issues. What you cannot control is weather, and changes in conditions. In 2005, armed with the pamphlet prepared by 90 + year old pro photographer (and, I am proud to call friend), Arnold Jon Kaplan, I excitedly traveled to numerous destinations in Vermont, only to find that a number of them had incurred significant tree growth in the ensuing years, obscuring the views that Kaplan had making his iconic images. This is another reason why pre-scouting is so important!

Sunrise, Hateras National Seashore, Hateras, NC copyright Andy Richards

In the final analysis, though, those heart-stopping images you often seen in magazines, calendars, and occasionally on line, usually derive their pzazz from being there in the right light! The only way that can happen – especially in the morning (and in my view, that is when the most dramatic light usually happens), is to get out of bed early and be there before twilight and before the light happens!