2020-05-01_N-Photo_the_Nikon_magazine

(Nancy Kaufman) #1

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,
ǕǓ!Ǖ(3Ǖ


  1. 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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    Ĩ
    but there are also those that go quieter
    and deeper. David Douglas Duncan’s
    photograph of US Marine Captain
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 20
ǔǕĨĨ,ǕǔĨ!
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both immediately come to mind. Both
are also typically held up as examples of
Ǖǔ

 ŕ Ŗ
unfocused gaze that came from


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Seeking out the everyday
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ļǕĨ 

him, the best pictures of people had a
ǔ
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didn’t use that particular word. “Death is
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ǕǕű\L·
His successes were pictures that had
ǔ

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situations in which people behave
ǕŰĨǕ
 Ǖ

particular persona. “To photograph
world events allowed me to be present
ǕǓǕǕ
 


Ǖ 

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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The beach
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a moment of behaviour, or feeling, that
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ǔ

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

Free download pdf