Most of photography is waiting: for a cloud to move, a person to stop posing, a street to empty. I used to think the waiting was the price of the picture. Now I think it is the picture, and the frame is only the receipt. Here is how I wait, in the order it happens.
Before you arrive
Decide what you are waiting for. Not the exact picture, which never turns up, but the kind of thing: a face in a doorway, the moment the shadow reaches the step, the boat coming back. If you do not know what you are waiting for, every minute feels like a minute wasted, and you will leave two minutes before it happens.
- Look at the light the day before, at the same hour, if you can.
- Find out when things happen: the ferry, the school gate, the bread.
- Eat first. Hunger is a clock that runs fast.
When you get there
Standing still
Pick a spot and stay in it. The temptation is to drift towards whatever looks promising, and by the time you get there it has stopped being promising. Standing still does two things: it lets the light come to you, and it turns you into part of the street. After a quarter of an hour people stop seeing you, and that is when you can see them.
Watching the edges
The picture rarely arrives in the middle of the frame. It comes in from the side: a bicycle, a hand, someone stepping into the light you have been watching. Keep your eyes on the edges and your camera on the middle, and let them meet.
How long to wait
Longer than feels reasonable. As a rough guide, from a notebook I have kept for years:
| What you are waiting for | Usually takes | Give up after |
|---|---|---|
| A shadow to reach a mark | 10 to 20 minutes | the mark is in shade |
| A person to stop posing | 3 to 5 minutes | never; change the subject |
| A street to empty | 20 to 40 minutes | dusk |
| A cloud to move | 5 minutes to a week | the forecast says so |
| The boat | it comes when it comes | dinner |
The frame is the receipt
When it happens, it happens fast, and you will have time for one or two frames. That is enough. The forty minutes before were not wasted; they were the exposure. The picture only proves you were there and paying attention, which, if you think about it, is the whole job.
If you want to take better photographs, learn to stand still for longer than feels reasonable.
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