Number 52, Charleston South Carolina
Compulsories. I came up with this description of a type of photograph many years ago. I appropriated this term from the world of figure skating. Compulsory events are never shown on TV. This is the technical judging of the skater. Can the skater do a figure eight, skate a perfect circle and other tests to determine if the skater is competent? We photographers have these compulsory photographs, too. They are especially prevalent in the world of large format photographers.
So you know what the compulsory photographs are:
Pepper in a tin funnel.
Sand dune at dawn or dusk. Strong shadows and S shapes
Nude on Sand Dune
Zone VIII Church or house
Zone VI barn
Tunnel View (I should not have to tell you where this is located.)
Abstract Rock photograph
Any long exposure that makes water look like cotton candy.
Kitchen utensil still life.
Nautilus Shells or bleached bones.
Calla Lillies
So you know what a compulsory is...
True confessions time. The first thing I did when I bought my large format camera was open it, unfold it, set it on a tripod, put the lensboard and lens on the front of the camera and run to the refrigerator for a green pepper. I will admit this. If you are smiling now, you know you did it too. I don't know if it is more disturbing that I can tell you this story, or that you just saw that photograph, or that as a polaroid it's still in great condition.
I was at an exhibition of photographs and came upon a compulsory photograph of an old barn. My companion said, “That’s really nice – the first twenty or so times you see it.” My response was, “It’s something I would have thought wonderful twenty years ago.” (Meow, Hiss.)
We had not considered that for some people compulsories are new and exciting. Photographers exist in a continuum of existence and progress. There are those that started before us and have achieved more. We seek them for guidance and inspiration. There are our fellow photographers whose evolution mirrors our own. We seek them for their company and to discuss mutual problems. There are those that have started after us. We can inspire and guide their efforts, especially if we have those same barn photographs in our portfolio
Comments