Australian_Photography_-_June_2016_

34 AUSTRALIANPHOTOGRAPHY.COM AUSTRALIAN PHOTOGRAPHY JUNE 2016

street if you let the camera dictate, you’ll miss the shot.” Time

is the most important thing here and using it quickly becomes

Muñoz’s mantra. As if proving his point, I spot a photo subject

moving past a beautiful pastel wall but by the time I lift my

camera and try to frame her, the old lady has moved on.

Meanwhile, Muñoz is ahead of me and getting set to show me

how he works. “See this girl walking down the street towards us in

a school uniform?” he points. “She’s going to school and I want to

show her with a sense of the environment she’s living in.” Moving

slightly around a corner, Muñoz carefully avoids capturing

Fancy visiting Cuba?

Julio Muñoz runs photography tours and classes from his

stunning colonial mansion in central Trinidad. You can stay

at his house with breakfast included for about $35, with

photography classes starting at around $30. Make sure you

book early as he’s not the number one recommendation in

Lonely Planet for nothing! Find out more at trinidadphoto.com.

two modern cars in his frame, but ensures he includes the old

buildings and walls behind her that characterise Trinidad. She’s

getting closer. “I want to frame her against these walls here and

wait for her to be in full stride so there’s a sense of movement.” As

she steps out onto the road in front of him, Muñoz lifts the camera

to his right eye, takes a shot and is done. She doesn’t even notice.

He looks at me and grins. “You don’t have to ask for

permission if the subject doesn’t know they’re a subject.”

Muñoz’s style is about capturing candid moments quickly.

“I call it a John Wayne photo style, shooting from the hip, fast

with anticipation,” he explains. To illustrate, we approach two

chatting cowboys on their horses, but they spot our cameras and

self-consciously sit upright, their conversation grinding to a halt.

We wait. They soon relax and continue their conversation. In a

f lash, Muñoz frames his shot and takes a photo.

With Muñoz’s basic camera gear, he’s limited by how much

he can crop so prefers to have his frame ready in his mind

before he shoots. Composition is key and he lives by the rule

of thirds. “A photo is two dimensional, but you can add a third

dimension by suggesting depth – just look at this for example.”

IMAGE: JULIO MUÑOZ

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