It took Edward Weston 29 prior attempts to get to the point where he made his well-known “Pepper #30” photograph. Musicians have to practice their scales, and so do photographers, trying a variety of attempts at conveying the essence of their subjects before hitting on the one that works the best. Weston’s strategy of looking at the three-dimensional world in a two-dimensional image is explored with Pepper #30 and Head-Down Nude.
Pepper #30, 1930
by Edward Weston
Head Down Nude, 1936
by Edward Weston
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Often in my experiences of photojournalism I don’t always get the chance to try, and try again to get a certain shot. It’s ultimately about machine gunning a ‘decisive moment’ in hopes that later one of the frames has the quality I was looking for.
Here though, with the pepper and woman, it has encouraged me in my ‘personal works’ to take my time and keep shooting a subject rather than falling into the more familiar machine gun techniques I use in volitile demonstrations.
Even in those “machine gun” situations, where you have to shoot a lot to get what you need, you’re still dealing with that “keep trying” mentality… it’s just *really* sped up from what Weston was up to. I think the key is to just keep reminding yourself that one of those frames may be the one you really need to have.
And… one of the big advantages of digital photography is that you can keep on shooting on a “no cost” basis.
Wonder what Weston would have done with a digital camera.
Wait… do I *really* want to know?
😉