What makes Bresson the father of modern news photography?

What is a photo report or a photo story? Sometimes, the composition of an incomparable photo is so vivid and colorful, and the content contained in it is so attractive that this single photo is a complete story in itself. However, this can only be satisfaction. The factors that can make a theme shine are often scattered-not scattered in space. It is scattered in time. Putting them together is a kind of "stage management", which I think is a kind of deception. However, if you can show the core and brilliance of the theme with a few photos, this is a set of picture stories; Through the arrangement of pages, we can reorganize the complementary factors scattered in several photos.

Picture story is the result of brain, eyes and heart linkage. The purpose of linkage is to describe the content of evolution events and convey corresponding impressions. Sometimes, a thing itself is so perfect and rich that it must be filmed from all angles to expose the problems it expresses. Because the world is moving, you can't treat a moving thing with a fixed attitude. Sometimes it takes a few seconds to take a photo, and sometimes it takes hours or days. But there are no rules and procedures. Your brain, eyes and heart must always be alert and have enough physical strength.

Things themselves provide us with so much material that a photographer must guard against the tendency of wanting to photograph everything. We should extract from the materials of life-extract, extract, but extract with discrimination. When deciding to take a picture, the photographer must be very clear about what he should do. Sometimes, you will feel that you have captured the most powerful photos representing a specific environment or occasion. But you find that you have to keep filming, because you can't predict what will happen next, and you have to wait to prevent the essence of things from reappearing. At the same time, it is very important to avoid slamming the shutter like a machine gun shooter, and avoid those useless records becoming a heavy burden on you, disturbing your memory and damaging the accuracy of the whole report.

Memory is very important, especially to recall the photos that were snatched in a hurry. Photographers must be clear that they have not missed anything useful in the face of ever-changing things, and truly and comprehensively express all the connotations of the event. If he finds out later, it will be too late. He will never let the past repeat itself in order to start over.

For photographers, we need to make two choices, and each choice may lead to regret because of the wrong choice. One is when we look at the subject through the viewfinder; The other is after the film is developed and the photos are printed. After developing, you must pick out the photos that are well taken but not very infectious. At this time you will clearly find out where the failure is. Although it is late, at this time, you can often recall your untimely mood when taking these photos-are you hesitant because of uncertainty? Or is there a natural gap between you and developing events? Or is it because you neglected the details related to the whole incident? Or is it because of poor eyesight and inattention (this is the most common thing)?

For each of us, space begins in front of our eyes and gradually expands to infinity. The space in front of us stimulates us strongly or weakly and then leaves us. But it remains visually in our memory, and it changes its style in memory. Of all the means of expression, photography is the only way to accurately fix fleeting moments. We photographers are faced with disappearing things. When they disappear, there is no invention in the world that can bring them back. We can't wash or print our memories. A writer has time to think carefully. He can accept it or reject it, and then accept it after rejecting it. Before he wrote his thoughts on paper, he was free to combine several related factors. It takes a process for his brain to "forget" some things, and his subconscious will classify his thoughts. But for photographers, what has disappeared can never come back. Based on this fact, our profession makes me anxious and nervous. Once we get back to the apartment, it's impossible to take a new photo. Our task is to observe the reality and record it in our sketch book-camera almost at the same time. Don't tamper with the reality when shooting, and don't tamper with the original effect in the darkroom. Anyone with eyes can see through these tricks.

When shooting a picture story, we should score points and count rounds like the judges in boxing matches. No matter what kind of story pictures we take, we are always like an uninvited guest. Therefore, we must quietly approach the target-even the still life. We must have soft hands and sharp eyes like eagles. It is not appropriate to push around hard. Besides, as long as you respect the real light, you shouldn't use the flash-even if there is no light there. Unless a photographer can abide by these conditions, he may become an intolerable aggressor.

The career of photography depends to a great extent on the relationship between the photographer and the photographer. A bad relationship, or a mistake, an inappropriate attitude, can ruin everything. When the photographer feels a little uncomfortable, our camera can't capture the true character of this person. There is no complete method to take good photos, because everything is different. When taking pictures, it is necessary to be close to the subject, but it also requires us not to make public. People from different countries and different social classes have different reactions to photography. For example, in the whole East, an impatient or hurried photographer can easily become the object of ridicule. If you have been noticed, even when you just took out the exposure instrument, the only thing you should do is to temporarily give up the idea of taking pictures and kindly allow those children who are scrambling to attach themselves to you like thorns.

theme

Just like our own world, there are photographic subjects everywhere in the world-they are everywhere and we can't ignore them. Therefore, we must stay awake to what is happening in the world and be faithful to our feelings.

A theme is not a collection of facts, because facts themselves are rarely interesting. However, through facts, we can understand their inherent laws, so as to better choose substantive themes to express facts.

In photography, the smallest thing can become a great theme. Trivial things in the world can be the main theme of music. We observe the world around us and show it. These things themselves have various organic rhythms in form.

There are thousands of ways to extract the essence of things that attract us, so I won't describe them here. On the contrary, we completely keep things alive.

Now there is a brand-new field, which is no longer developed by painting. Some people say that this is due to the invention of photography. No matter where this statement comes from, photography has really won a place in this plastic arts field.

Portrait is one of the themes mocked by artists today. Double-breasted dresses, military hats and horses-even the most academic painters get bored with these things. They will feel suffocated by the Victorian portrait of big breasts. For photographers, it may be because we don't pay much attention to the eternal value of our works like painters, and we are not too unhappy about it, just interested, because we accept.

People have a strong desire to pass on their portraits to future generations, and they always want to leave their best images to future generations, although this demand is mixed with a deep fear of this witchcraft, a strange feeling of sitting in front of the camera and exposing their images to a magical substance.

One of the reasons why portrait photos are fascinating is that they allow us to recognize a person's image step by step. People's inheritance is more or less manifested in their appearance-the similarity often makes people mistake the photos of their uncles in family albums for little nephews. If a photographer wants to take a picture of a person, he must be in a normal state. We must respect the atmosphere around this person. And integrate the living environment of this person with his portrait-because people, like other animals, also have their living environment. First of all, let the subject forget the camera and the person who uses it. In my opinion, complicated equipment, reflective devices and various accessories are enough to scare the "bird" we want to catch from flying.

What is more changeable and fleeting than the expression on people's faces? The first impression a special face gives us is often the most real; But if a photographer wants to make his first impression come true, he should "live" with the person being photographed. The decisive moment and psychology, like the position of the camera, are the main factors to take a good portrait photo. I think it is very difficult to be a photographer and take pictures of customers who make reservations and pay for them. Because, except for one or two art sponsors (Maecenas), customers all want photos to look better than themselves, and the result is no longer valid. Photographers are skeptical about the objectivity of cameras, so what photographers need to do is to accurately study the psychology of photographers.

Indeed, in all portrait photos taken by the same photographer, the unquestionable sense of identity is obvious. Photographers should look for the identity of the subject and express their visual feelings at the same time. A real person is like a photo, which neither emphasizes the tenderness of the subject nor deliberately highlights his strangeness, but shows the personality of the person.

I prefer the ID card photos posted in rows in the window of a small photo studio specializing in passports to those posed portraits. At least, we can see some problems in this face and witness a simple fact-not something like poetry that we are pursuing.

composition

If a photo wants to express the theme strongly, it is necessary to establish an accurate relationship between the various forms of the photo. Photography means a rhythmic understanding of real things in the real world, so the role of the eyes is to find and focus on those special themes in the complicated real world. The function of the camera is only to record the eye's decision on photographic film. Understanding a photo is actually like looking at a painting. We can see the whole picture at a glance. In a photo, composition is the result of the combination and organic cooperation of various factors seen by the eyes at the same time. Since content and form are inseparable, we can't be smart afterwards and overprint something on the basic material for composition. Composition must have its inevitability.

Because of the instantaneous linearity produced by the motion of the subject, photography has new plasticity. We worked in harmony, as if we had foreseen the development track of life itself in advance. But within the movement, all the factors of the movement tend to be balanced at a certain moment, so photography must firmly grasp this moment and fix this balance.

The photographer's eyes are constantly watching. If his head moves a little, the lines will overlap. If his knees bend a little, the angle of view will change. If he puts the camera closer or farther away from the subject, he can grasp the details-he can make them obey him, or he can't do anything about them. But his composition time is almost as short as pressing the shutter, and its speed is equal to a reflection action.

Sometimes you wait and hesitate, waiting for something to happen Sometimes you feel that everything is ready-but there seems to be something missing. But what should it be? Maybe someone suddenly came into your sight. You followed him through the viewfinder. You waited and waited, and finally pressed the shutter-and finally left-and you thought you really caught something (though you don't know why). Later, in order to prove this point, you will enlarge the photo and analyze the geometry. You can find that if the shutter is released at a decisive moment, you must have it.

Although composition is something that we must continue to pay attention to, it can only come from our intuition when shooting, because we are grasping those fleeting moments, and all the interrelationships contained in them are constantly changing. When using Huang Jinlv, the photographer's only "compass" is his own eyes. No matter what geometric analysis or diagram, it can only be carried out after the photos are taken, developed and printed (due to its essential properties)-and it can only be used for post-event review of photos. I hope there will never be a day when photographic equipment stores don't sell graphic grids sandwiched in the viewfinder; Huang Jinlv should not be etched on our polished focus screen.

If you want to get a good photo by cropping, it means the death of a reasonable geometric balance. In addition, a photo with poor composition cannot be remedied by changing the composition on a magnifying glass, so the visual integrity no longer exists. We talked a lot about the angle of taking pictures, but the only effective angle is the geometric angle of composition, not the angle that the photographer distorts in order to get special effects, stick his stomach to the ground or make other ridiculous appearances.

colour

When it comes to composition, we always consider only the symbolic color-black. Black and white photography is a distorted photography, that is, it is an abstract representation of things. In black and white photography, all values are replaced, which provides us with more choices.

Color photography has brought a series of problems that are still difficult to solve. Because of its complexity and relative immaturity, some of them are even difficult to predict. At present, the sensitivity of color film latex is still very slow, so photographers who use color film tend to shoot only still life or use strong artificial light sources. When shooting close-up objects, the slow speed of color film shortens the depth of field in the field of vision and often makes the composition rigid. The most important thing is:

Color positive sometimes looks pleasing to the eye, but the next step is taken over by the plate-making workers. In color printing, full communication is very necessary if plate-making workers want to understand the photographer's intention. Finally, there are those impermanent ink and paper. Color photos printed in magazines or semi-hardcover editions sometimes give people the impression of poorly drawn wall charts.

Indeed, now the color printing of pictures or files has reached a certain degree of realism; However, it is another matter to make colors tend to show real vitality. We are still in the primary stage of color photography, but all this doesn't mean that we can't have further interest in these issues, or just sit down and wait for the perfect color film-packaging the necessary skills for use-to fall into our arms, and we must continue to explore our own path.

Although it is difficult to accurately predict the development of color photography in photography reports, it does seem that people need a new attitude in thinking, a method different from studying black and white photography. Personally, I am a little worried that this complex new factor will destroy the life and sports effects that black-and-white photography often captures.

To truly innovate in the field of color photography, it is necessary to change and adjust various colors. In this way, the freedom of expression can be realized within the scope of the laws stipulated by Impressionism, which is unavoidable even for a photographer (for example, the law of contrast in * * * *: each color will fill the blank space adjacent to it with its complementary color; If two tones contain a color occupied by these two tones, then this color will be weakened by the juxtaposed two tones; When two complementary colors are juxtaposed, the effect of two complementary colors is emphasized, but when they are mixed together, they cancel each other out, and so on. To express the natural color of space on the plane of a photo will involve a series of extremely complicated problems. Some colors absorb light, while others reflect it. So, some colors do look forward. Others seem to flinch. We must be able to adjust the relationship between colors, because color is an arrangement with a sense of depth in nature, and it is another arrangement on the plane, whether it is painting or photos.

Many difficulties brought by snapshots are that we can't control the movement of the subject; In the report of color photography, the real difficulty is that we can't control the relationship between the colors of the subject. It is not difficult to think of other thorny issues, but it is certain that the development of photography is closely related to the development of other technologies.

technology

The constant new discoveries in chemistry and optics have greatly expanded our activities. These new discoveries have also been continuously applied to our photography technology, which makes us make continuous progress. However, there are still a lot of stubborn superstitions in dealing with themes by technical means.

This is of course very important when you have to master technology and use it to express what you see. In order to effectively record your vision on film, your own technical skills must be creative and adaptable. But judging from the final result, the most fundamental evidence is the last developed photo; Otherwise, the photographer will talk endlessly about the photos that were almost taken-but this is just a memory that basically does not exist in the eyes of a nostalgic person.

Photographic reports have grown from scratch, but it has only been 30 years. The maturity of photographic reporting benefits from easy-to-operate hand-held cameras, large-aperture lenses and particle fast films produced for the film industry. The camera is a tool for us, not a beautiful mechanical toy. The accuracy of mechanical properties may be an unexpected compensation for the anxiety and uneasiness encountered in daily work. However, people care too much about technical problems and think too little about how to observe them.

If a photographer is satisfied with his camera and it is suitable for his work, that is enough. As for the actual operation of the camera, such as aperture, exposure speed and other similar technologies, it should be as skilled as driving and shifting gears. And the specific and exquisite details about these operations, no matter how complicated, should not be the topic I want to discuss today. Because in the operating instructions provided with the camera and the exquisite orange cowhide cover, the manufacturer has made an accurate explanation of all this in language similar to military terms. If someone says that the camera is a beautiful gadget, then at least our conversation should go beyond this range. The same applies to how to take exquisite photos in a darkroom and why to take exquisite photos.

In the process of enlargement, the most important thing is how to restore the value and state when taking pictures through re-creation. To this end, it is even necessary to change the tone of the photo so as to be consistent with the photographer's intention at the moment when the shutter is pressed. It is also necessary to re-establish the balance of light and shadow for continuous eye recognition. It is for these reasons that the final stage of photography creation is carried out in a darkroom.

I have always been interested in some people's ideas about photography technology, which is manifested in the excessive pursuit of image clarity. Is this an obsessive passion? Or, according to these people's hopes, by using the same technology as Trompe-I'oeil, we can get closer to grasping reality? In another case, they just left the real problem. Like photographers of another era, they are always used to blurring all the photos, thinking that only in this way can they be regarded as "artistic" photos.

customer

The camera gave us a visual record. For me, this is my diary. We photographers are quick to provide information to the world-a world full of prejudice and noise, but also a world hungry for information. People need the guidance of photos. As photographers, we inevitably have to evaluate what we see in the process of taking pictures. This means great responsibility. But we must rely on the printing industry, because for those image magazines, we are like mechanics, providing the most original materials.

For me, selling my first photo (to France & gt(VU) magazine) was really an unforgettable experience. This is the beginning of my indissoluble bond with magazines. It was the magazine that made our photography public and introduced us to the public. They know how to publish photo stories according to the photographer's intention. Unfortunately, sometimes they distort the original intention of the photos. Magazines can indeed publish their works as photographers show, but photographers also risk changing themselves to meet the tastes or needs of magazines.

In a photo story, the title should provide a grammatical context for the photo and highlight any place that the camera can't reach. Unfortunately, in the assistant editor's studio, mistakes are hard to prevent, and these are not just simple spelling or ridiculous word mistakes. Readers often blame photographers for these mistakes. This kind of thing does happen! !

Photos have to go through the hands of photo editors and layout designers. The photo editor must select the photos that can form a photo story from about 30 photos. It's like dividing an article into different paragraphs for a series of quotations. Photo stories have a certain structure like novels. The photos selected by the photo editor will be arranged into two, three or four pages according to their interest or the number of pages available for publication.

The most important artistic talent of a layout designer is that he knows how to choose the most special photo from a pile of photos, which is worth printing a whole page or spread; At the same time, it is also to know where the small photos that can play a connecting role in the story should be inserted. When taking these photos for this set of photo stories, photographers should consider how to make these photos published effectively. Layout designers often need to cut a photo, leaving only the important parts of the photo. So it is also the most important for him to unify the whole page or the whole content arrangement. When the layout designer can create a photo story, when he arranges the photos properly and each page has its own structure and rhythm, the photographer simply thanks them! !

The photographer was very nervous when he looked for his photo story in the magazine. Besides publishing in magazines, there are other ways to spread our photos, such as photo exhibitions. Books are the most permanent form of exhibition.

I've said enough, but I only talked about one form of photography. Photography takes many forms. From faded snapshots in the wallet interlayer to bright advertising catalogues and more forms of photos in the middle-all photography. I don't want to define photography as acceptable to everyone. I just define my own photography:

For me, photography is a way to confirm the meaning of an event and an accurate structural form to properly express the meaning of an event in an instant.

I believe that through life practice, our understanding of ourselves will keep pace with our understanding of the world around us. The world can change us, and we can also influence the world. We must find a balance between these two worlds-our inner world and the outer world. As a result of this continuous interaction, the two worlds tend to be unified. This is the world we must express.

However, I only said the content of the photo here. For me, content and form are inseparable. I think form is a close organization of the interaction of plane, line and color. Only by using this organization can our ideas and feelings become concrete and infectious. In photography, visual organization can only sprout from developing intuition.