When we moved to Egypt – which was not I hasten to add my sad attempt to “tick-off’ the exotic location component – this myth was quickly dispelled the first time I went out and found that my Steve McCurry impression was pretty wasted on the average Egyptian and my images were just expensive snaps.

Compelling reads such as “Within the Frame”, by David duChemin and following the blogs of great photographers like Gavin Gough, Chris Orwig, Ami Vitale and Matt Brandon and others have helped me to realize that the answer is a mix of craft (knowing how to use the tools of the trade properly so that you are free to concentrate on the aesthetic); the vision (breaking the rules, trying to follow your heart and allowing your creativity to flourish); the preparation (knowing what the light will be doing, what the cultural sensitivities are etc); the graft (going out there time and time again until you get the shot you want) and of course, sometimes, luck

Ami Vitale in a recent review session, encouraged me to slow down and to try and understand the story better, and this advice came to mind yesterday when I was walking past a non-descript blacksmith forge, camera in hand.

Rather than just acknowledge the nod of the two men sat at the back of the shop, we stopped and I gestured with my camera and muttered in my halting Arabic as to whether I could take their picture.

Ramy, my Egyptian colleague then started to chat with them as I began to take some shots. Within minutes they began to suggest that they start up the forge again and show me what they do.

I thought that I would share with you some of the successes and failures that I went through over the course of that hour or so as I tried to work the opportunity by trying different angles, lenses, compositions and style to capture this wonderful story of what turned out to be a father and his two sons running a small family business.

The first image at the top of the blog was one of the portraits I made of the old man towards the end of the session, but the thumbnail snapshot from Lightroom below show you some of the different images I made and later discarded of his son working at the furnace before finally choosing one to process below right.

I am not proclaiming these to be great images – I like them and the old man loved them so I guess that is all that really matters. But what I did learn and wanted to share with you is that it is not the exotic location and it is not luck that made this work. It was taking the time to slow down, build a relationship and to keep trying different angles and composition – even when I knew I had a couple of “keepers” in the bag – that allowed me to walk away with 3 new friends and a couple of fun images.

It would have been so simple to have just nodded that acknowledgement and to walk on.

I  am, like many of you, short of time. I cram my photography onto the end of a 80-90 hour working week, a young family and endless long-haul travel. Photography is my release mechanism, and it allows me to relax. Well up to the point where I don’t get frustrated by messing up a potentially great image or oversleeping and missing the golden hour of light after dawn! I think I am – well, at least up until the review – pretty good at taking the time to build a relationship with my photo subjects – in fact it was one of the things that Ami said I did well. I am comfortable getting in close with a short lens, or sitting in a coffee shop for an hour or two chatting in my limited Arabic or letting them take pictures of me with a point and shoot. The type of images I had shown her suggested a real rapport had been built with the subjects. So I was feeling pretty good about that!

But Ami had a very simple yet profound piece of advice. Slow Down. I mean REALLY slow down. Still More. Much More. The images I had shown her were competent – one or two were even really good – but by giving myself more time to think, to create a context and to see in camera what I always saw too clearly afterwards in Lightroom, would make a massive difference to my images. In fact, she suggested,  I was probably putting pressure on myself because I thought that unless I had a great image from that week’s outing, I was squandering opportunities. And of course I was, but not as I thought because of lack of technical competency, but because I wasn’t giving myself the time – the space – to really see the potential around me. Slowing down, would transform how I saw things, she promised.

Let me illustrate this with one of my images that we reviewed – The Matriarch (top left). I thought I had done a pretty good job of slowing down. I had put the camera down, engaged the man in the background about his work engraving Sheesha pipes. I had even discovered that the woman in the picture had no English but some basic Italian, was the mother of the man in the background and two others out of shot. I showed her some of my pictures on my iPhone and then she asked me to take her picture.

So here I was with a heaven sent opportunity and what did I do? By Ami’s standards I rushed. I shot maybe 50 frames, bracketing for the light and changing my position for different compositions. But in the image I submitted for review, I didn’t take enough time to look around inside the frame. If I had I would have spotted the lines coming out of the matriarch’s head and the big v-shaped gap between mother and son that, although he is looking at her, is actually creating a divide between them. Whilst Ami commented that the light was good, we both knew that used differently, it could have created a superb image.

And Ami’s suggestion? Since the woman had asked for her photo to be taken, then you set the pace. Slow down, take the time to look at where you want her to sit. Ask her to move so that you get the composition and light you want. Say something like “I want this to be a beautiful picture, so let me just figure out the best place to put you so we make the best use of the avilable light.” Bingo. Suddenly the light is less difficult to meter, perhaps more dramatic; the lines coming out of her head have disappeared; the relationship is more contextual and it is likely with the re-framing that the space between them would be more intimate. Suddenly this is the image I had visualized (but failed to execute!) of the proud mother, hard working son, wonderful light and environmental portrait all wrapped up.

Now compare that image with two other images of the same subject, shot at the same time (middle left and bottom left), but where I remember taking more time and care over the framing. I am not for one minute suggesting these are compelling images, but they do feel different and they do address some (not all) of Ami’s points above. The obvious question – to which I have no ready answer – is why didn’t I submit one of these other images!

So slowing down can have a big impact on the aesthetics, but it might also mean shooting 15 frames rather than 50 of a subject. It might mean getting up before dawn to be at the Camel Souk before first light, so that as the sun rises and the days trading begins you are already part of the landscape and people have already come to accept you. It might mean focusing on a single subject or not taking a picture at all, but going to a location a day early and just observing or understanding or building a relationship or trust.

Like many of you I have read some compelling books recently like Visual Poetry by Chris Orwig or Within the Frame by David duChemin, and they reinforce similar ideas, including allowing yourself a change of pace to start seeing what is around you. It might be a pattern, a reflection, a shaft of light or some tonal similarities that catch your eye.  Your ability to create compelling images then is as much about awareness as it is about technique or kit. “Gear is good, vision is better” as David duChemin would say.

Now admittedly yours and my definition of slowing down and Ami’s are slightly different.  I was chatting to Gavin Gough about this and he made me laugh when he said “You or I think that putting down our camera and chatting to a market stallholder about his fruit is slowing down or building a relationship. Ami takes this to a whole new level and goes and lives in Kashmir for 6 months so that she can immerse herself in the culture”. Yet it is no accident that the likes of David duChemin, Gaving Gough and Matt Brandon – who all know Ami well – hold her in such high regard for her ability to see different opportunities or different potential in a situation that they, despite their experience, their ability and their own vision, might shoot differently. Slowing down then it would suggest, helps to remove barriers and allows you to have more control over the creative process and the aesthetic of the image. And that starts to be differentiating.

In the next post we will look at Ami’s second theme -”having a reason to be there” – and why this together with context impacts your ability to make compelling images

Please do feel free to retweet or share this image by clicking on the icon below. Ami’s wisdom is too beneficial to languish just on this post.

You can read the sequence of posts by clicking these links:
Slowing down with Ami Vitale
Having a reason to be there with Ami Vitale – Review critique Part 2
The science and the art of photography with Ami Vitale – Critique review Part 3
How to make compelling travel images with Ami Vitale – Critique review Part 4