Last night I went to a festival with two photographers. I didn’t have a camera, so I spent my night watching them taking pictures.
“Oh, this is going to be dreadfully dull,” I thought. I knew I’d be frustrated as I saw things to photograph but didn’t have an instrument to do it.
As it turned out, it was an engaging evening and I had plenty to occupy me. I studied their techniques and choice of subjects. I started to guess how each would approach the lanterns, the dancers, the food stalls, the lights. They rarely took the same shots. I compared theirs to what I would do with camera in hand.
I was an active spectator. I paid attention to what was going on around me and my assiduity paid back new perspectives on seeing the world through a lens.
Posted by kuri at July 16, 2004 10:00 AMfunny you mention the different perspectives. i recently went traipsing around one section of yokohama, with a photographer friend, and we had a bit of navel-gazing fun wondering what our day would be like if we showed the two sets of pics to somebody. would they even be able to tell if it was the same place, or the same day?
but then i cranked my neck staring at my belly-button, so we moved on…
/.s./
