092|365 Annie Leibovitz at Work ~ Learning

092|365 Annie Leibovitz at Work ~ Learning, originally uploaded by comatosed.

Theme: Learning

The book I'm reading is Annie Leibovitz at Work. My sister gave it to me for Christmas and it's the first time I've sat down and gave it a serious read. It's a biography, but there is a lot that can be gained from Annie's photos, stories, philosophy, methodology and insights into photography.

She really is a master at capturing the essence of a person on film, a skill I want to learn above all else. What surprised me was that she spent a minimum of two days and sometimes even months with her subjects getting to know them.

Perhaps this explains part of the reason I found my photo shoot for Modern English Studio difficult. I was working with people I didn't know, under tight time constraints, all were English teachers, not models, and they weren't being paid for their time. In retrospect, a recipe for unnatural photos.

Another thing that appeals to me about Annie's photos is that while the earlier ones were self admittedly lacking in technical ability, she captures interesting moments none the less. She always tries a new approach contrary to what the majority of photographers next to her are doing. I focus too much on the technical, and often forget to LOOK, to SEE what is going on around me. She puts people at ease, by taken their ideas and embellishing on them. I sometimes get too caught up with my own concepts and fail to listen to what my client wants.

So this photo is me trying to simply capture a moment rather than create one.

--- Lessons Learned ---
1. Try to balance technical skills with people skills

--- Critiques Welcome ---
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