Tuesday, May 11, 2010

When to use your camera?

I was at a military promotion party last night for a friend's (really, more of a friend of a friend's) advancement to the rank of Brigadier General. I brought my camera thinking it would be a good opportunity to document a rare experience (at least for me). The room was packed with the full range of social strata of military life. It was perfect for a series of intimate photographs / portraits of people in celebration of something momentous. As I moved about the historic house on Fort Hamilton at the base of the Verranzano Bridge, conversation followed the usual norm with basic party chatter; however, it also veered toward pending transfers, the effort required to move families, uncertainty of long term planning and difficulty of building a life in specific place that could change with short notice, very little of actual war. In the faces of those attending I saw all kinds of human emotion: elation, jealousy, fear, happiness, envy, sadness. Throughout the evening I was surprised at the feeling of an overriding sense of community, not based in a physical setting but one based on something larger - shared purpose, duty, family.

I couldn't bring myself to use my camera. It seemed like an intrusion, especially as an outsider to military life. I feel like a photographic opportunity was lost, yet attempting to think like a photographer added a level of intensity that made the experience incredibly enjoyable.

1 comment:

  1. it's an interesting paradox that we as photographers can run into. we use the camera as a tool to observe the details of an experience, a place, a person, an interaction. the camera makes us hyper-sensitive to situations and we might find ourselves not wanting to use the camera fully, so as not to take advantage or to not miss out on the experience personally. but if we ask ourselves what our true intentions are, we can quickly realize that we are not trying to take advantage. we are trying to tell a story. if that is the pretext, then so much falls into place in how we maneuver in a given situation. the question is how do you communicate your intentions to the subject?
    thanks for sharing!

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