From: Shannon Stoney (shannonstoney@earthlink.net)
Date: 01/02/03-12:10:50 AM Z
Jon wrote:>
> Do you disappear under the dark cloth to make your large camera portraits?
> What do you think that does for the "ambience" of the shoot? Even covering
> your face with a 35mm camera changes the dynamic when shooting people. I
> almost never cover my face when shooting people with the Diana - preferring
> to maintain eye contact with them while holding the camera at neck or chest
> level, shooting intuitively. I have found shooting like that becomes more
> like having "a gesture" with those concerned.
I think this is very true. This is one of the things I like about the view
camera: that you are not behind the camera when you actually take the
picture. You do have to get under the dark cloth for a minute of course.
But then you stand beside the camera and talk while you take their picture.
The problem with that for me has been that often people are not looking into
the camera ever; they're looking at me or something else. It's nice to have
someone gaze soulfully into the lens.
The story about the Diana camera was interesting: that people relax more
because it looks like a toy.
I have a little russian medium format camera, a Lubitel, that you have to
hold at your waist in order to focus it, and it also seems to be less
threatening than the gun-like 35 mm camera that you have to "aim" at
somebody.
--shannon
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