As a parting remark by a college principle, I was told that he would look forward to the day that he saw my work hanging in MoMA. As such, I wasn’t quite sure how to take the remark. Was it final and long overdue gatekeeper validation of my clear artistic genius, or a form of mild mocking, better placed in a high school playground of false hope? I'll leave it up for you to decide.
If you do actually see any of this stuff at MoMA in the future, my apologies in advance.
To chimp or not to chimp that is the question........?
I'm not sure who actually coined the term chimping (or the verb to chimp), as the interwebs cannot give me a definitive answer but basically the act of looking at the small monitor at the back of ones digital camera.
I can understand the tendency to want to chimp, due to the immediacy of digital photography and the world of instant gratification that we find ourselves in. No longer do we have to wait in a darkened room or outside a 1 hour photo stall (Polaroid photo booths not withstanding) to see the image materialise before our eyes many hours after the fact, now we are just a button press away from clutching and cradleling our precious babies and cooing over them in all their pixilated glory.
Chimping is a divisive subject amoungst photographers. There is no sliding scale, just a line drawn in the sand and no fence to sit on your either chimp or you don't chimp. Basically some photographers look down upon those who do and many a newbie has been fooled into looking at the back of a film camera at the request of a more seasoned veteran (does that really ever get old?). Micheal Coyne [link] detests the practice, arguing that if you know you got the shot you don't have to look at the back of your camera to check to see if you are right and that whilst you are checking you probably missed another shot just as good. Case in point Ron Bijlsma's photo of the indy 500 pileup that claimed the life of Dan Wheldon. Besides the obvious carnage shown, there is one lone photographer chimping away seemingly unaware of the tragedy in front of him.
I can understand the benefit of chimping be it via a tethered computer monitor for studio photographers, where total control of the final image is demanded and millimeters matter. who even needs a light meter these days when you can chimp away. Micheal Zelbel is in no doubt onto which side of the fence he falls.
Michael Zelbel via Smoking Strobes.
This series of images above were captured at the 2012 World Track Cycling Championships in Melbourne Australia. I guess the thing that surprised me were the number of professional photographers who were chimping missing a perfect shots when they could have spent the same time looking at them after the event or have an assisant download them onto a server so they could spend time just shooting and not missing a shot that could make them some serious money. So it amused me so I shot them.
Once again taking a book out of the page of Bern and Hilla Becher [link] keeping things objective but nowhere near as diligently or as precise, so much for using a tripod or bothering with more than one 5 minutes in post production to get each frame just the same....
This drive-thru car wash seemed to be doing good business judging by the stream of cars waiting in line for their turn. I'm not sure how much of the traffic was derived from the comical electronic banner or the above average service they render but it certainty put a smile on my face for the day.
I'm not sure how often they rotate their material, though look forward to checking it out again when I'm next in town.
Check it out for yourself if you are in Boston town. Bubbles Car Wash [link]
