New tricks!
XThank you very much for inviting me to be the Apprentice on the architecture shoot with Ben Moore
(N-photo 134, March 2022). It was fun, informative and managed to get me out of the house!
It may not have been always obvious that I got anything, because I am an argumentative bugger, but I actually derived a great deal from the day.
Ben rejected my use of Program mode, insisting only Manual mode can give you a proper rendition of what you want to shoot. His system involves two things he also demanded as part of it. One was making a careful note of the exposure – in effect acting as a human light meter – and taking large numbers of pictures. That, in turn, included continually checking the screen to see what the picture looked like, and then adjusting aperture, shutter speed, as well as angle of view for the best composition. Keep repeating all that until you are satisfied. I took exactly 480 pictures…
That was almost exactly the opposite of what I had been taught at the Kensington & Chelsea College in its BTEC course. The instructors there said you ought to get it right first time, so one exposure would do, and ‘chimping’ (constant reference to the rear LCD screen) was the sign of an incompetent amateur.
He also made me dig out the 14-24mm lens, which I had used pretty rarely. Probably about 80 per cent of the pictures taken during the day were taken not just on that lens, but at its widest 14mm setting. It had never occurred to me to take so many urban pictures at such wide-angle views. It produced a radically different sort of approach, very much at variance with what I have been doing.
Probably even more important, however, was what we photographed. I had taken pictures comparable with the subjects tackled on the day, but never in quite the same way. So Ben opened a new set of approaches to tackling urban photography. His vertical views produced intriguing and attractive patterns in a way I had not tried, but that was only one part of it. Broadening one’s view and understanding is probably the best gift such an occasion can provide. Michael Becket
We’re glad you enjoyed your day, Michael, and that Ben was able to open your eyes to new ways of shooting.
Checking images on the rear screen is often derided as ‘chimping’ by those who learned with film, and the ‘get it right first time’ ethos harks back to a time where every exposure cost money – but if digital tech enables you to check your results instantly, and take as many shots as you need to get it right, then why not use it!