2020-05-01_N-Photo_the_Nikon_magazine

Finding meaning

in normality

You don’t always have to be shooting exciting,

overstimulating events, sometimes you just

need to look at the everyday

had an old friend, Romano

Cagnoni, one of the great

photographers in the

documentary and

humanist tradition.

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combat situations, that

went all the way from

Biafra, Nigeria, in the late

1960s to Grozny, Russia,

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1995. He had stories, a cover for
      Life magazine and, indeed, all the great
      picture magazines of the time. Yet he
      didn’t see himself as a combat
      
      
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      means and how to document it.”
      Most of the memorable photographs
      
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      but there are also those that go quieter
      and deeper. David Douglas Duncan’s
      photograph of US Marine Captain
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both immediately come to mind. Both

are also typically held up as examples of

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unfocused gaze that came from

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Seeking out the everyday

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him, the best pictures of people had a

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didn’t use that particular word. “Death is

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His successes were pictures that had

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situations in which people behave

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particular persona. “To photograph

world events allowed me to be present

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reveal themselves.” That was entirely the

point for Romano. Google him and

you’ll see what I mean.

Many photographs have an

immediacy, but their value lies in being

a part of a broader collection of pictures

that have a sort of timelessness to them.

They deal with behaviour and emotions

that we can all understand and relate to

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way that Romano might, but what

remains open and available in everyday

life is the possibility of the generic

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a moment of behaviour, or feeling, that

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mentioned absurdity, love, loneliness,

and I’d add warmth, happiness, wonder,

I

Michael

Freeman

Creative Paths

Renowned photographer and prolific

author Michael Freeman presents a

month-by-month masterclass

exploring his tried-and-tested paths

to more creative photography. If you

enjoy this article and want to learn more, there

are 50 more paths to be discovered in Michael’s

book Fifty Paths to Creative Photography. For

more, see: http://www.michaelfreemanphoto.com

Michael spent a few extra minutes on this

subject, hoping to find something that

would elevate it that little bit more.

Rodadero beach, Colombia.

Michael explains the connection

felt in this one frame.

Many photographs have an

immediacy, but their value

lies in being a part of a

broader collection that have

a sort of timelessness