[Leica] When in doubt ask photographer

[mark at rabinergroup.com (Mark Rabiner)]

> Quoth the Ted Grant :
>> 
>> "Our responsibility during a documentary is let the subjects always
>> do their
>> thing. And it's our responsibility to find pictures within what they
>> are doing without direction nor posing."
>> 
>> And it's as simple as that and be there in body but not influence.
> 
> 
> Texas Monthly magazine used to rate the legislators after every
> session (Molly Ivins always had fun with that).
> 
> They had three categories:  The Best, The Worst, and the Furniture.
> 
> I've always aimed for "Furniture" when working.  I'm not ever going
> to lose enough weight to get to "invisible" and nobody's ever going
> to be able to look through me to see what's on the other side unless
> my head's turned and you can look through my ears, but in some
> fashion appropriate to the moment, I CAN become a presence of no
> importance to the action taking place, and simply not be a focus of
> my subjects'  attention.  Depending on the dynamic, I'm either a
> poorly designed and overlarge hatrack,  or simply another member of
> the group that nobody's really noticed before (and whose absence will
> not be remarked after).  It's not at all uncommon that when I pull
> back from a group before leaving, the first person to become aware
> that I'm packing up or opening the door will ask when I'm going to
> come back to actually shoot pictures...  or will be utterly
> astonished that I'm still there at all.
> 
> If people have something else to focus on that's more effectively
> absorbing than the photographer, then as long as the photographer
> doesn't do anything to break that focus, s/he's just not going to be
> there.  It's not invisibility in the optical sense... it's "blending
> in" kicked up several notches.
> 
> Zen....  I am one with the chair.
> 
Having experience with various degrees of  "fatness" I've noticed the fatter
you are the more invisible you are.  Every inch of fat is like a cloak of
invisibility.  I'm glad to be quite a bit more visible now.
I only say this because its kind of interesting as  its one of those "Its
always what you don't think" things.

Sent from my Very Lint-free Bellybutton

Mark William Rabiner
markrabiner.com