How many times have we as photographers said "I am going back to simple photography"? I think at some point we have all said it. Lately, I have been thinking about just that theme.
Some of my cameras are extremely simple. They consist of a box to prevent light from affecting the film, a lens and shutter mechanism, this allows me to chose how much light will hit the film and exactly when that will happen. Finally there is a simple mechanism to allow the film to be moved through the camera (I'm talking about 120 roll film here).
More simple still is large format photography. The film is supplied in sheets and is placed in a special frame, in the dark, and has a sliding door that can be removed when the frame is in the camera.
The mathematics involved in film photography can be mind boggling. You need the correct sized aperture, the correct speed shutter and the correct ISO film to all come together in a
triangle of exposure to make an exposure on a section of film.
And then there is the problem of exact exposure values. How do we get those? You can use a light meter. But it turns out that all meters are not created equal!
If you want to simplify things you can use the Sunny f16 rule. Just have a look outside and choose an appropriate value, while applying the Sunny f16 rule.
Exposure is such a minefield. You don't want blown out highlights or blocked up shadows. You want shadows to have detail and highlights to have detail. You probably also want deep blacks, sharpness, detail. On and on and on it goes.
Eventually you get to the zone system and your mind melts.
Zone System
Sometimes it all gets a bit much! Too much maths, too much kit, too much to think about.
Those who understand the zone system think the rest of us are idiots and us idiots think life is too short for the technical complexity of the zone system and simply want to produce photographs that are interesting and have soul.
Recently I have been studying the work of Don McCullin. Don is a famous photographer who made a career shooting 35mm film using a Nikon F camera, with a 50mm prime lens. His subjects were war, famine and human depravation.
Reading his autobiography, "Unreasonable Behavior", standing around waving a light meter about to get the best exposure settings was a hazardous occupation. A nearby, and unseen, sniper may take an accurate shot at you, ending your life. Dons approach seems to have been to get an indicative exp setting, however he could, and then rely on the latitude of the film and his experience of exposure settings. So he could stop down or open up an aperture as he shot. Often he would push film, Don normally used Kodak Tri-X, to ISO 800 or even 1600 if light was at a premium.
Don McCullin
The resulting negatives are astonishing, they are detailed, gritty, matching the dynamic nature of an ongoing skirmish or battle with arresting black and white photographs.
Don McCullin produced work for the Sunday Times magazine for many years, until someone in charge decided that presenting the horrors of war and famine to Englishmen, while they enjoyed their Sunday breakfast, was not on. Luxury brands complained that their products didn't sit right opposite award winning black and white photographs of dead children.
Another photographer who was disinterested in technical excellence and more interested in photographs that captures moments was Jacques Henri Lartigue. He took photographs throughout his life and built a huge catalogue of work, without being overly concerned with the technical aspects of the craft.
Jacques-henri-lartigue/
So coming back to simplicity in photography, I decided to get my Nikon F75 out, insert new batteries and take some photos. The camera is a bit more modern than a Nikon F and has a built in light meter.
My simplicity is to let the camera and film do the heavy lifting and just try to concentrate on producing photographs that are interesting. The photographs in this blog post are all taken on a 400 speed film that was exposed as ISO 800 and was pushed in development to ISO 800. This is what my simplicity looks like.
As the Rolling Stones once sang, you can't always get what you want but if you try sometimes, you'll find, you get what you need.
