A meditation: shooting on the street
Shooting on the street is an odd way to experience the city -- the side effect of trying to be perfectly aware and open to everything that's going on around me is that I end up not actually taking in that much. On the best days, I'm responding on such a pure visual level that I don't really parse what I'm seeing until I'm past it.
Blocks later, I'm suddenly asking myself, "Hey, was that woman trying to get a dog to ride on her back?" Sometimes that doesn't happen until I'm looking at the proof sheets, days later.
Those are the best days -- totally focused, responding before I see, subconscious in control of the camera, with the conscious mind desperately trying to hang on with one hand while the other hand clutches its hat. It's pure perception, total responsiveness, better than any drug.
The other days, when the conscious mind takes over, are... less great. It's much more of a struggle. I'm responding on an intellectual level, not an emotional one, and it shows. The images tend to be better composed, but often cold -- I'm not feeling it emotionally when I shoot, so the picture ends up with little or no emotional content and don't "work" as well.
This continues to be one of my biggest struggles in photography. Partly I think it has to do with my design training and experience. Composing a photo comes naturally to me, and as a result it's easy to fall into the trap of composition without really considering the content. Sure, the relationship between the guy and the wall sets up a nice dynamic, but nothing's going on in that space -- he's boring, the wall's boring, nothing interesting is happening.