Candidity

Despite all my hundreds of hundreds of photos over the years, it has just come to my attention how few of them are truly candid. It's definitely hard to mask the giant camera as it entirely eclipses my face. Even the little pocket camera continues to demonstrate the learned reflex of a subject to stare directly back at a camera.

I think I gave up on candids because as natural as they should be to capture, the results are never what I expect. I find my attempts are usually messy and cluttered. There is often so much in the frame that the story is lost, and the photo is unimpressive.

Or, I'm trying my hardest to hide my camera or take a quick shot, techniques I have not yet mastered.
Despite the blur (and the intsieweentsie subjects), I love the following photo because I remember exactly what the two are looking at, and I love that they have each other to share in the moment.


In case you are curious just what they are seeing:


Sometimes I enjoy knowing that the subjects will be oblivious forever, but feel that the word "candid" is lacking if you cannot actually see the people in the shot.

On the other hand, my favorite shots sometimes come from watching an unknown interaction. There might be a camera involved, but it's not my camera. The show is not for me, and to that effect, the moment is real.

At this party there were cameras left and right, but we are bound to forget them and resume living freely for a second here or there.

In all though, I find that children make the best candid shots. Children are always performing; it's their lifestyle. But they are not self conscious, and easily forget who they are performing for. Life's just to exciting to care who might be watching.


Now that I've got Isabelle, I can practice more candid shots, and maybe even become confident enough to try to find some truly candid shots in the real world. Who knows what stories I might capture...