When doing a small-scale but lovely exercise like this Printique book project about The Fountain Inn, I actually hear Jay Maisel in my head. “Everything has a gesture.”
It’s not something I usually have to remind myself of. I’m someone who likes to take pictures of people, and people, well, they definitely have gestures. Or, perhaps more appropriately, the gesture. Some are not all that pleasant, some are quite appealing.
So when I look at a building, no matter how lovely, I look for gestures, a profound combination of light, angle and space that have a voice. I also always remember the remarkable Magnum photographer Burt Glinn’s answer to the question of how he found inspiration in the corporate and factory corridors he famously photographed. His response, apparently, was something along the lines of, “Sometimes I just have to sit down and wait for the machine to speak to me.”
Full details. Another good mantra to have in your head when doing a job like this. Put yourself in the shoes and eyes of readers who have never seen the Fountain before. First, what does the whole shebang look like? And then, what are the details that make up this historical entity?
Create a book such as Printique Printable is the perfect medium for exploring the concepts and mantras of a job like this. Pace is important. The light becomes the drum beat with which you march the camera. And, it’s important to capture the viewer’s eye. A good way to do this is through lens selection.
I’ve used Nikon Z 9 camera on this work. (Also used Angelbird CF card, is the definition of speed.) And a bunch of lenses: Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8, 19mm f/4 tilt-shift, an F-mount 28mm f/1.4 is combined with the Z 9 with a FTZ . converter, 105mm f/2.8, 70-200mm f/2.8, S series 400mm f/2.8 TC.
In other words, I was basically carrying the whole bag. And a Systematic Gitzo Heavy for long glasses and long exposure. Not to mention I’ve actually done a few HDR images over Capture One ProBut don’t let that happen.
Same garden, different lighting, different approach.
Along with lens selection, the use of white balance such as incandescent, seen below, can also give viewers a pleasing and entertaining curve to their eyes.
Hopefully choosing a lighting type also adds interest to the page-to-page transition.
And speaking of page flips, a major tool for creating a book gives you control over the look and feel of the spread. (Ordering a book online is easy with Printique.)
Angles, lines, color shifts and tones… . are all possible strategies to preserve the life of images in pages.
You can keep changing tempo, lenses and lighting… all the way to the edge of the sunset.
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