Saturday, June 1, 2013

P22: action - peak moment

The essential object of this task is to find a busy person and photograph them several times looking for the peak moment in the action.  DULL, again what are they thinking, where is the development of context and narrative, versus the building of rudimentary technical skills.  Finding the peak moment should be second nature by now, or at least a concept that is well understood.  In fact it is a thought that almost makes me shudder as it is a primary challenge and risk factor in wedding photography.  The first kiss, signing the register, cutting the cake, throwing the bouquet - all fleeting moments in time that must be captured as they will never happen again,  Some come with warning, many don't. I can recall being at a wedding in Austria and sitting with friends at midnight thinking job done, time to relax, when someone ran in to inform that the cake was being cut, MIDNIGHT - Austrians are weird????  The essence of wedding photography and any form of reportage is to be there, always ready to take a photograph, always adjusting for light and situation.  When the opportunity comes there is no time to think about apertures and shutter speeds, the camera must always be good to go.  Fortunately I was still good to go.

The net of this intro is that I feel I am in good shape for this element of my photographic education, so what to do with this project.  Anyone reading this blog regularly will know by now that I am a grumbler and that I am fed up with the course, but I have to complete it.  I have tried to turn the projects into something more interesting, but do struggle, partly because I still want to be educated by the OCA to some extent and if I wanted to do my own thing, well I would do my own thing!  But this should be fun, not a chore so here goes...

What I have done with this project is to look at the  peak moment in a broader sense, thinking about how a narrative develops during a days shooting and how I work towards that peak moment, the action shot that defines the essence of my subject.  Last Saturday "the local boys done good" - Bayern Munich had qualified for the Champions League Final for the third time in 4 years and created a palpable sense of tension in the city , could they finally win the damn thing?  However, it was a long day leading up to the kick-off at 8:45pm.  I was out and about in town actually trying to do this project as suggested, finding a market trader or street performer who would provide the 10 or so shots requested.  I was not thinking about the game other than wanting to be home to watch it later.

It proved to be a long and very interesting day!

It was also a chance to give my new camera system a good workout in a more demanding environment; into my camera bag went the Oly EM-5, 7-14, 12-35, and 35-100 Panasonic zoom lenses.  This is not about equipment, but I have to comment that the quality of images provided by this kit is equal to my DSLRs and is a fraction of the size and weight, and lower cost, although not cheap.  With this system I can cover 14mm-200mm with a set of fast lenses, the longer zooms are f/2.8, the wide f/4. Ideal for street reportage work.  The big advantage of this mirrorless setup is the presence of high quality and most importantly fast zoom lenses.

PART 1

OK, back to the photography.  I started at the market simply looking at the world.  First problem was heavy rain, meaning that little was going on, although what was there was strange:


This next photo caught my eye, a beggar in a wheel chair with a crucifix.  Interesting enough, until a guy in a shell suit came by and pulled an expensive smartphone from her pocket to make a call.  This definitely passed for a moment, although it would only be peak with stronger context.  I decided to leave, losing the opportunity to develop a narrative, the guys controlling the beggars are not known for their understanding.


As I walked past a favorite church, the Assam Kirch, I was surprised to see a Nun outside acting as door person or bouncer.  A wedding was taking place inside and the tourists were being politely but firmly refused entry.  At this stage the scarves and colours of Bayern were starting to become visible.


One of the smartest Bavarian restaurants  had done a little decorating


As had some of the cities mouments:


In the market, it was clear that today was going to be noisy and colourful.


And boozy, the side streets were full of empties, and this was 9 hours before kick-off - Bayern fans can pack it away.  Munich has no problem with public drinking, provided it is peaceable.


I headed into the city center, Marienplatz, where the fans were beginning to gather.  It was already clear that this was the place to be and that a situation was developing.  In the following images I have adopted a low saturation, high contrast approach to the processing, it is an affectation, but well represents the gritty dirty day.




As time went on (I was there for about 2-3 hours), the crowd built up and became louder:





At a certain point a group of cheer leaders emerged and started to orchestrate the crowd


All the time I was thinking about what the definitive photograph of the event would be, the peak moment, as it were.  I really enjoy working in a large and energetic crowd, but there is the problem of creating an image that is more than an amorphous  group of people.  I tried using the medieval backdrop to add some context, but I still found that I had interesting but not striking imagery.  It needed something more.



Something more came when the fans started releasing smoke flares, this added colour and movement into the  photographs


At the same time the police decided to get involved and enter the crowd, I think they just wanted to get the guys down off the statue before someone broke their neck


However, a single glance can add threat - a good moment, but not yet what I would call the peak.


THE NEXT PHOTO is where the peak came for me at least.  It is not ideal, I would like the police to be more prominent, but this is the point.  The crowd is active, the smoke adds drama and the backdrop places the event in old town Munich.  It took 2  hours of working in and around the crowd to get to this point, for me the defining image of the pre-game activity.


Before leaving Marienplatz, here is another shot with a different processing strategy.  Same crowd, same activity minus the smoke.  The bright colours make the situation look much less threatening.  Using the aggressive processing technique added to the sense of incipient violence, on a day when all there was was happiness and anticipation.  As photographers we can manipulate the real, by what we shoot, what we do not shoot and how we present our work.  This set of photos could be looked at as a threatening crowd almost out of control, fueled by alcohol and tribal passion.  What I have not included are the kids on their parents shoulders watching the fans and singing along, the bemused Chinese tourists and the shoppers just going about their Saturday.


PART 2

OK, so that was the pre-game "riot", what about the game itself?  I had intended to watch it at home, but a birthday celebration at a restaurant close to Munich's Leopold Strasse changed my plans.  Heidi and I met with her sister and partner for a great Lebanese and a few beers.  At about 8:30 we headed home, thinking to take the underground and walked into the cities biggest party in years:


Leopold Strasse is the heart of Munich's night life, an area full of restaurants, bars, nightclubs, cafes, it is all there.  All along the street every bar had widescreen TVs along the wall and thousands of people were watching the game.  All along the street small bars were selling beer and snacks, it was a great, if tense, party atmosphere.


Including the police.  A few weeks ago when Munich annihilated Barcelona in the semi-final there was a major riot here, bottles, baton charges the works, so this time the cops were there in force, but in truth watching the game as much as the fans.


Bayern scored first to great celebration, but Dortmund came back.   Bayern's winning goal came close to end of time and the sense of finally winning brought out the smiles and the flares.


Victory, closed the streets, all through the city people emerged onto the road and had a massive party.  God help anyone wanting to drive anywhere.  The police managed the situation, but did not intervene



So I finish with a final "Peak of the Action" moment, the joy of winning, the drug of success.


It was a great day, from start to end a riot of noise and colour, but without trouble, it was a celebration of the game of football and the city of Munich.

2 comments:

  1. I think this set works so well and I felt as if I was almost inside the action. Am I right in thinking that you're beginning to feel more in tune with social documentary?

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    1. It was a fun day and a chance to work on a mini-assignment almost. I like big crowds and feeling the flow of people around me - I used to stand in the Kop at Liverpool. I get social documentary, but not in the way this course goes about it. It is too focused on the person and not on the context.

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