Sunday, February 17, 2008

Split Decision

I had only a narrow angle to aim without shooting into harsh sunlight and waited to the last second to raise and thus reveal the camea. They first hesitated, bunching up, then one turned away while the other one tried to bolt.
Most people when confronted by a stranger pointing a camera at them will either try to:

HIDE by turning away from the camera or blocking their face.
or RUN by walking briskly through or around the spot where the camera is aimed.

In this case it was a split decision.
I took this snap several years ago, and while I like the play of horizontal and vertical lines on the shirts and how the "hider" appears to be contemplating the checkered wall, today I probably wouldn't bother taking the snap. But at the time it was something of a turning point for me. I had successfully predicted their range of behaviour and had used it to my advantage.



2 comments:

jannx said...

interesting study of human nature. in Toronto people stop out of range and then wait for the camera to go down. Sometimes as much as half a minute.

bONGO said...

I hate it when they do that. And then even when you wave them thru, a lot of times they'll walk around behind any way. I try raising the camera at the last second to avoid that, but often times they'll see the camera at my side and walk around anyway just to be safe. I need a smaller camera for sure.