Pixiq

I have several favorite photography quotes, many actually. Here are two favorites. One by Arnold Newman and one by Ansel Adams. Newman’s first, “Photography is 1% inspiration and 99% moving furniture.” As a long time commercial photographer, I can really relate to that sentiment. He wasn’t referring to just furniture but all the equipment we’re forever packing up, moving it where needed, unpacking, arranging a location or set, packing up again, moving it, unpacking and putting it away until the next round. Photography? Yeah, 1%. But what a fun 1%!

Now Ansel’s quote is real interesting and intriguing today. “The negative is comparable to the composer's score and the print to its performance. Each performance differs in subtle ways.” Some who have only lived in the digital age may say it’s an out dated sentiment, because we rarely use film these days, and I would disagree strongly. Today I think Ansel would say, “The capture is comparable to the score and the output to its performance. Each performance differs in subtle ways.”

You see Ansel was all about making the final output, the print, as perfect to his vision as possible. If Ansel lived longer, there is no doubt he would have been all over digital. No doubt at all. I've heard that sentiment echoed by several people who knew Ansel, including National Geographic photographer Chris Reiner. Chris, an amazing photographer in his own right, assisted Ansel for three years. Someone else who interviewed Ansel toward the end of his life, asked Ansel if there was anything he regretted in photography. Ansel answered that he regretted not being able to be around long enough to see what computers could do. You see as the father of Zone System, Ansel was all about tonal control.

Another favorite quote by him was “Dodging and burning are steps to take care of mistakes God made in establishing tonal relationships.” After spending all those hours and hours in the darkroom, can you imagine how he would have reacted not only to burning and dodging, but being able to control the tonal range as much as we are today. Zone System was all about tone control; exposing and processing to extend and control as much of the tonal range as possible.

Where is this going? Some photographers today, purists, value “getting it in the camera” meaning no manipulation. As a photographer who’s heard many a client tell me to get it in the camera because they didn’t have any budget for retouching, I can tell you, I don’t care how I get the shot. All my client or I care about is getting the shot needed. And staying in budget. Since I photograph a lot of small kids, it used to be in the film days you shot until you knew you had the shot. And prayed a little before the film came back from the lab. With digital, you know, then and there if you have it. You need a little more exposure, a little more fill light, no problem. Photograph two kids and one is off, no problem, change the face. Same when you shoot a group photo. If someone is blinking or not perfect, it’s easy to change out the bad version.

And the result? A better “performance”, better tonal control, a better output, a great print. I have several friends, great photographers who I respect, who strongly disagree with me, that it’s not pure and a “slippery slope” when you make a lot of changes. To me, making a lens choice, making a decision to stand somewhere alters what’s in front of you and is not any different than working on the file after capture. And knowing that greats like Ansel Adams and W. Eugene Smith manipulated as much as possible in the darkroom. If computers were available to them, they would manipulate as much as possible with the tones in Photoshop.

So I’m curious as to why “getting it in the camera” is so important? What does it prove? To me, it’s about the final product, the performance of the imagery, be it carefully planned, a lucky break, or something put together. Any thoughts out there?