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When taking unscripted photos — documentary, reportage — you have no control over what’s playing out in front of you.
But! This process of slowing down, stopping down, and sitting down allows for calm, intentionality, and consistency in making your photographs.
Resist the temptation to react to everything, and accept the fact that you won’t capture it all. Let that go, and allow yourself to survey and discover the canvas in front of you: Where’s the light? What’s the composition? What moments are you waiting for?
Check your settings. Are they where they need to be to tell the story you want to? (Do you really want that wide open aperture at 1.4 where you have no sense of context about what else is going on in the frame?)
Patience is a virtue — and a good photograph. Know what you want to capture, set up your shot, and sit your butt down. Wait for the perfect time to hit the shutter. Sometimes you’re waiting through a lot of nothing, until the moment happens. Other times, you’re shooting through moments to find the strongest one.
Source Material: This is Chuck Anerino’s approach to documentary shooting. He talks about it in podcasts/videos like this episode of the Wedding Crasher’s Podcast, and teaches it to his students (me included!) in his course, Creating Deeper Documentary Imagery.
Notebook notes like this one are my way of processing and synthesizing concepts from others by putting them in my own words. For more, please do check out the original material above!
