My Embarrassment
Very good friend of mine, Jana Hampl Marouskova, recently booked my theater for the shooting of the trailer for her new piece. Luckily enough for me, I was supposed to have a shift that day.
Agata Cerna, Jana Hampl Marouskova, Lubomir Krupka / 24-70mm; T 1/60; F 4.0; ISO 1600; 1Ds Mark III
All the necessities were communicated well in advance and I found myself needed only for preparation of very basic stuff. Like black box and some worklight. Therefore I had no work during the shoot. But you do not want to leave if you have people like Pop Balet in da house, right..
The name of their new performance is “The Embarrassment” or in my native language “Trapno”. Premieres at 4. 4. 2004 in theater Ponec and you can watch the trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrJVQyft_-g
Because I deliberately stuck around like a sore thumb I was eventually asked if I could take a few backstage photos. Which I was very glad about, but I had no equipment whatsoever with me. Then I realized I have my old 1Ds Mark III with EF 24-70mm/2.8 L in the locker in my office. One of the cameras I usually lend to people, who attend my workshops and are willing to try some DSLR workflow. There are a lot of those since Mirrorless systems took over the market. DSLR systems seem to be a deep history by now.
Patricie Karasova, Martin Leska / 24-70mm; T 1/60; F 4.0; ISO 1600; 1Ds Mark III
People from Pop Balet apparently like to work hard, because I had hours and hours of possibilities ahead of me. Just by accident I took a pic, which they later chose for the poster. I think it is important to adhere to your own attitude towards the way you do your job. In my case that is letting go of any opportunity to communicate or control the events, unfolding in front of me. Even in this case I did. Following photo just happened.
Agata Cerna, Matyas Hanzlik, Vanda Hejnova, Anna Horakova, Martin Leska, Patricie Karasova, Anna Melichercikova, Barbora Sluneckova, Sara Polonyiova, Jonas Snitil, Josef Vesely, Antonie Zelbova / 24-70mm; T 1/125; F 2.8; ISO 1600; 1Ds Mark III
Yes, it was lit by the film crew. Yes, people were there and posing for the camera. But not for my camera and not at the moment I pressed the shutter. I jumped at the spot of the cameraman for a couple of seconds, while he was switching the glass, and took two or three photos without ever communicating with the people on the stage. Some of them were not ready and that is a good thing. From my point of view and from the technical perspective, this is an observation.
It all went so fast, I didn’t even manage to change the aperture value from 2.8 to higher. Which is a severe and very basic mistake on my part. You can very clearly see what I’m talking about in the missing sharpness of the faces of people at the very back row. Well, there is my embarrassment for you. I bought a moment and traded quality for it. Now it is bound to be reminded to me every time I’ll see that picture.
Josef Vesely , Lubomir Krupka / 24-70mm; T 1/125; F 2.8; ISO 1600; 1Ds Mark III
To some I must sound like a broken record but that does not make my words untrue. I had so much fun with the optical viewfinder. Thinking about what word is the most proper to describe it, it would be “intuitive”. It is way more intuitive than most of the products on the market these days.
When I lead my workshop, there is this one thing I cannot stress enough. Attention. Turning off review screen and dedicating your attention solely to the dancers in front of you. Reviewing pictures already taken will push your mind, for the lack of the better word, straight out of continuity. That will hinder your ability to predict and to figure out just what might be the important part of the performance. Light itself is still fastest than any type of LCD screen and processor. If you react to a fast moving body, it just might make a huge difference. Without any form of LCD screen you will be forced to imagine the picture before you take it. Which I believe to be the most important activity of all of those listed here. Those influencing to what you shift the most of your attention to.
Truth to be told I am using Mirrorless system. I have very expensive R3 and I still don’t enjoy the workflow. Major positive reason is of course that absolute quietness of this system. It does not make a sound yet I still want to cry out. It feels almost like stealing.
I read a book by Michael Chrichton recently. Yes, I read the original Jurassic Park and if that sounds funny, I have to add it’s a very smart book. There is a character of the mathematician, who dislikes science. In order to explain why he creates this metaphor. When you are learning for example karate, during the difficult learning process you will understand there is a lot of discipline needed for it to be useful. When scientists find, describe, repeat and learn to use something new, they are already “standing on the shoulders of the giants” in their process. Therefore they don’t get their chance to learn the discipline required to use it.
With Mirrorless cameras it is the same. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t dislike photography being way more accessible than ever before. I’m only sad to see so many people doing it without ever understanding what it is they are doing.
If you like taking pics and never had a DSLR in your hands, you are missing out.
All this came up to me again because I was by accident forced to work with it for one more day and it felt glorious. Again it happened in the company of these constantly moving people, who like to hide in the beaming lights of the theater stage, seemingly too far away from us, mere mortals in the audience. And I’m forever thankful for their company.
All photos in the article are taken with this very model
Also if you think you need a new superexpensive camera from whatever manufacturer just to have a good pics, forget that idea. It is a fallacy. 1Ds Mark III launched in 2007 and all these pics are taken with it.
