Diane Arbus

Diane Arbus's photographs are more about her inner psychological workings than her subjects.  She reportedly manipulated the subjects until she found the look she was looking for. The account by Germaine Greer is telling of a deeper and more wide spread approach that she used. She would put her feelings into the images. She would manipulate, intimidate and coerce the subjects until she got what she wanted. Perhaps not in all her photographs, but she clearly used this technique on a large number of her subjects. For a detailed account of her inner workings I would recommend the book Emergency in Slow Motion: The inner life of Diane Arbus by William Schultz

In his book Schultz refers to this particular shoot with Germaine Greer and in her own words we can hear her side of the shoot.

"She set up no lights, just pulled out her Rolleiflex, which was half as big as she was, checked the aperture and the exposure, and tested the flash. Then she asked me to lie on the bed, flat on my back on the shabby counterpane. I did as I was told. Clutching the camera she climbed on to the bed and straddled me, moving up until she was kneeling with a knee on both sides of my chest. She held the Rolleiflex at waist height with the lens right in my face. She bent her head to look through the viewfinder on top of the camera, and waited.

In her viewfinder I must have looked like a guppy or like one of the unfortunate babies into whose faces Arbus used to poke her lens so that their snotty tear-stained features filled her picture frame (eg, A Child Crying, NJ, 1967). I knew that at that distance anybody's face would have more pores than features. I was wearing no make-up and hadn't even had time to wash my face or comb my hair.

Pinned on the bed by her small body with the big camera in my face, I felt my claustrophobia kick in; my heart-rate accelerated and I began to wheeze. I understood that as soon as I exhibited any signs of distress, she would have her picture. She would have got behind the public persona of Life cover-girl Germaine Greer, the "sexy feminist that men like". I concentrated on breathing deeply and slowly, and keeping my face blank. If it was humanly possible I would stop my very pupils from dilating. Immobilised between her knees I denied her, for hour after hour. Arbus waited me out. Nothing would happen for minutes on end, until I sighed, or frowned, and then the flash would pop. After an eternity she climbed off me, put the camera back in her bag and buggered off."

Germaine Greer - The Guardian 8th October 2005 - Read the full article by Germaine Greer here

In portraiture do you think it is ok to put your own agenda into the image of your subjects. If there is a line between manipulating the subject and not, where is it for you?

Germaine Greer

Germain Greer by Diane Arbus

Germaine Greer by Diane Arbus

Psychobiography of Diane Arbus

Fur

getting to know your camera

Learning about your camera until it becomes second nature is one of the keys to becoming a better photographer.  There are two tried and true methods of doing this; study and practice. You should do a lot of both. It also helps if you can learn to love your camera. I have written about this before (you can read this here). Reading the manual is an unfortunate place to start as we would love to just pick the camera up and start.  Putting the camera in auto mode and going for it, is a legitimate way to progress. Unfortunately you will still need the manual to even work out which mode this is.  Many manuals are now included only as pdf files. I put mine on my phone, pad and in a folder in my computer / laptop so that I can reference it wherever I am. Years past and for those that have been lucky enough to get a a printed manual with your camera I recommend packing it into your camera bag and having it handy.  It can take years to delve into the full capabilities of modern cameras. You may never even get there.

Some of my students have found the language of these so called manuals to be quiet difficult to understand, which in turn confuses flow charts and settings. This probably is an end product of translating them from their native tongue. Students have reported that third party manuals can overcome this problem. The third party authors task is to write  a manual that helps the photographer understand what is going on with their camera and how to use it. I know that a few of my students have found a deeper understanding from these manuals. For some cameras online tutorials / workshops / courses are available for some common specific models of camera. Make sure you purchase the right one for your camera.

Here is a list of things I think you need to be able to do to take your photography to the next level:

1. Change the aperture or shutter speed when the camera is in various modes

2. Select aperture priority or shutter priority & change the aperture or shutter speed when the camera is in both of these modes

3. Set & change ISO

4. Set auto ISO upper limit

5. Change exposure compensation

6. Change & move the focus point /s

7. Change the metering mode

8. Change and understand each mode

9. Do all of these things without removing your eye from the viewfinder

Now if you don't know how to do these things, go and figure them out and practice, practice and practice.

How to practice?

Camera cuddle (adapted from original exercise by Bruce Barnum)

1. Go and sit or lay down in your favourite couch / lounge / chair or bed even. And hold your camera and play with it. For the first hour don't take a photograph. Just practice changing settings, over and over and over. Change them with your eyes closed. Change them while your looking through the viewfinder. Change them with the camera under a sheet or towel. Changing the aperture / shutter speed combination, exposure compensation and focus points needs to become second nature.

2. Take some time to really concentrate on each of your adjustment wheels, knobs, etc. Really feel them, can you tell the difference between them by just feeling or by their location. Get to know which way they turn. The more in touch you are with your camera the better.

3. Bruce describes this process with a large format camera, and this exercise is extended to having it in its bag, putting up the tripod, assembling the camera and adjusting all movements., inserting the film and taking picture with an empty double dark slide. Then putting it all away again and starting again. He recommends figuring out a system and sticking to that system.

4. Continue to practice until you can change things without thinking or looking.

5. After photographing most of my life if I don't use a camera for a few months or years I find I have forgotten all of the little nuances of operating the camera. It is amazing how many times I have forgotten to lock down my camera before shooting because it has been a few months since I last used that particular camera. I still practice, practice and practice. Now days the easiest way to practice is to go and take more photographs, regularly.

Lounge lizard

Now you know your way around a little it is time to start practicing taking photographs.  The easiest way is to limit yourself with your subject so you can concentrate on your camera and the picture taking process.

1. For an hour take photographs from your lounge. Take some with wide open apertures, closed apertures, fast shutter speeds and slow shutter speeds. Use exposure compensation to get your exposure just right. Now go and have a look through your images and find a few good ones.. What settings did you have them on. Which images are blurry - check the shutter speed and the focal length of your lens. Make some notes / make generalisations / rules even (ie I can hand hold my 50mm lens at 1/30 second and still get sharp pictures)

2. Repeat this exercise on another day.. and even another one

3. If you must try a different chair in a different room in the house and repeat.

Len Metcalf with his Techinica III circa 1950

Photographic workflow

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BKing fern, Glow worm tunnel canyon, The Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area © Leonard Metcalf 200l2

My workflow has changed considerably over the years. It started with film and large format cameras. I learnt to hand print both my colour and black & white work. I printed on rc papers, such as Ilford rc Iflord Cibachrome, Fuji R4 and fibre based papers like Agfa. In the late nineties I moved to digital printing, scanning my films with drum scanners, processing in Photoshop and outputting with light jets onto traditional photographic papers. Some were Ilford Ifochrome (the newer rebranded Cibachrome), Fuji Crystal Archive and Kodak digital papers. When Inkjets came of age I switched to pigment on cotton. My journey back to cotton papers had started. My preferred printers were Epson printing on Innova smooth cotton museum quality rag paper. This was one of the most popular printing papers with us fine artists here in Australia, but unfortunately importing has stopped. Printing on matte papers is much more like drawing, they are soft and expressive. Now I am printing on Centuron Silk and using Ilford pear as my proofing paper. These newer plastic papers look like traditional photographs, yet lack the tactile sense that my prints on cotton had.

In amongst all of this I returned to my roots as a traditional printmaker. I was trained as a fine art lithographer at art school, and had been etching on the side since starting. Lithography was my minor while photography was my major. I would have pursued etching more vigorously if I hadn't disliked my teacher so much. Mind you the subtly of drawing on a lithographic stone is sublime. Such an experience, I am so lucky to have been able to experience it and produce some beautiful editions in the process.

Delving into photogravure was an easy step. Starting with polymer plates (solar plates) and dabbling in traditional copper plate. On my agenda is setting up a printmaking studio with an intaglio press and a non toxic work flow. It has been rather disheartening to find out about the demise of traditional stone lithography in Australia and around the world. Not surprising really considering how many practitioners died of leukaemia / cancer due to the highly toxic chemicals. I lost my teacher to leukaemia while she taught us at art school. In one semester she went from what appeared to be strong and healthy to a thin hollow shell to passing.. So so quick. So so sad.

Now my workflow is simpler. Usually a digital capture, though sometimes a film capture then scan to digital. I love to work with a small mirror less camera with a digital viewfinder. It is set to black and white (sepia actually as I find it easier on my eyes) and shoot raw. I can see and preview what I am doing in black and white yet still have all of the colour information at hand to utilise when processing. I love to use a cheaper consumer aimed camera rather than a high end professional model and spend my money on superior prime lenses. My legs make better zooms and changing lenses is way sharper than most zooms. Besides I know my lenses enough that I can I don't have to think about their perspective before I bring them up to my eye.

On import into Lightroom I use my own presets. I have a few, mostly with subtle changes to micro / mid tone contrast and overall sharpening, applying an orange filter in my own beautiful curve and the application of my sepia tones. Later, I can play with the colour conversion. Sometimes the image gets tweaked in Nik Silver efx; structure controls are superior to photoshop or Lightroom, and the vignette and edge darkening is simplified.

I then print it out on my inkjet printer. But I long to be able to hand print them on my own intaglio press, getting my hands covered in ink and hand pulling each print. One day soon I am sure.