I had a fascinating experience earlier this week. I happened to have
the 50/1.4 on the OM-3Ti and was out shooting in a cemetary. The view
through the viewfinder snapped my brain back about 20 years. Suddenly
I was seeing things like I did back then. All "new" photographic
opportunities opened up again.
What happened along the way was shooting digital. The smaller
viewfinders meant that I started composing the images differently.
I've learned that even though that generally my compositions are
stronger, the eye-flow is gone. Also gone is my subject layering. I
had developed a style of three or more layers. With digital, I went
down to two layers or even just one. No more foreground subject,
mid-distant subject and far subject. (generally speaking).
Even though I've been shooting with the Olympus OMs a ton over the
past two years, I didn't get that vision back until this week. Of
course, it'll take me a while to get back in the swing of things, but
I'm overjoyed that I'm starting to see things this way again. It's a
good thing. My most satisfying work was done in this style.
It's not that I'm trying to recreate the past or live in the past, but
there is an imaging characteristic which I lost along the way and it
has really been bugging me. My more recent work lacks the visual and
contextual depth which used to be part of my images.
This has nothing to do with "digital". I'm thinking that there are two
issues involved: 1. Viewfinder change. This seems to have a rather
profound impact on me. I'm a weak person when it comes to this and if
the viewfinder isn't comfy to me, I'm a lost puppy. 2. General
evolution of the photographer. New styles come along and I'm
constantly adapting to whatever is new. It's partly staying fresh, but
also a matter of keeping from being bored. But with that change I've
noted that I've lost the layering. In fact, others have noticed that
too. Uh oh. When others notice, it's time to wake up and figure out
what is going on. No matter how hard I tried, it just wasn't working.
AG
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