The Story Behind the Shot

[Firestarter]

Maybe it is not much of a story, but here it goes:


This is a 20-years-old photo I took from the pier on the North Carolina beach. The wind was very strong and I struggled to keep my 400mm tele lens focused and steady - handheld - even at ISO 400. That caused me to take a shot not very well composed. Most certainly, this is the kind of shot that breaks traditional compositional rules. In fact, I rejected it for almost 2 decades.


And then, it downed on me: this is actually a composition very well suited to the situation. Why? Because I knew the people in the shot and the delicate relationship that intertwined between them. The girl was with one of the men, but attracted to the other one. She hasn't decided yet which one is to be her partner, but one of them had much less chances and was pushed to the margin of her life.


(Canon EOS A2E with Tokina 400/5.6, Tri-X film, exposure unknown.)

[JJphoto]

like the picture and the story!


I

[Steve U]

What a hook, you got me Firestarter. You are living up to your name.


Where do you fit in with this picture? And I don

[bob williams]

Great story firestarter, Its funny how you can sometimes miss the subtle impressions of a photo until one day they just jump up and slap you in the face.


Great way to start off the string,


Bob

[Jonathan Huyer]

In Kananaskis Country west of Calgary, a large section of the highway is closed to traffic from December to June to minimize disturbance to wildlife. It is a beautiful stretch of road, so it is wonderful to go therefor a bike ride before it opens to vehicles. Naturally I can't carry my big lens with me on the bike, so I stuff a little point & shoot in my jersey pocket just in case I see something. As I was cruising down from the pass in June 2009, I noticed a large group of cyclists all stopped and looking at something. Sure enough, it was a gorgeous grizzly bear, munching on dandelions right on the side of the road. I gathered up my courage, got into position, and tried to hold the camera as steadily as I could (which was quite a trick, given how nervous I was). I continued to straddle my bike in case I needed to take off in a hurry. I was able to get this shot before the bear got fed up with the attention and ambled back into the woods. It remains my best grizzly photo to date, even though the quality is nowhere near what an SLR can deliver.

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[Pieter]

@Jonathan, I visited Kananaskis last year(3 week camper road trip from Calgary to Banff and Jasper), and I absolutely loved it. A bunch of tourists near the road or some kind of trafic jam in the middle of an np is usually a good sign that there is some wildlife activity. Bad thing is ofcourse that sometimes people get far too close to the animal to get the best picture..

[Jonathan Huyer]

Pieter, yes you are quite right. When photographing wildlife, there are a lot of ethical considerations to bear in mind (pardon the pun). The bottom line is, if the animal is changing its behaviour because of you, then you need to bug out. In this case, you could well argue that I should have stayed away from the grizzly. I came across another situation once, where we saw a bunch of vehicles pulled over on a park road(we call it a bear jam). As we approached, we could see a mother bear with two cubs, very near the road. I had the camera on the seat beside me, but I elected to keep driving. I could have easily grabbed an awesome shot, but it would not have had any value to me at all because I know the mother bear was probably very stressed at that point and wondering how on earth was she going to get her cubs safely across that road.

[Pieter]

I

[Pieter]

@Jonathan,


BTW, I absolutely love this picture in your portfolio: www.huyerperspectives.com/.../6779711_QsYV7


(I like them all, but this one definitely most)