In my job, one of the deliverable items from a software project is a document called: Lessons Learned. This document contains a list of things that you learned along the way that you believe would benefit another project. Some examples are: Get requirements before coding. Have the customer involved in nearly every step of the way, don’t add risk to your project by adding ‘stuff’ at the end, etc.
Tuesday’s trip downtown to one of the MOJA Arts Festival poetry reading was a first for me in a few of ways. First, I’d never been to a poetry reading. Second, I’d never been to the East Bay Coffee House, which was where the readings were taking place. Third, I’d never taken this particular camera, the M6, and shot with it indoors.
Things that I learned in no particular order:
- Survey ahead of time: If possible, do a survey ahead of time. Make a visit to the location to get a feel for the lighting and seating. In this case, I really had no choice with lighting, but could have had a better seating choice. I would imagine that showing up early would work almost as well. I did show up early, but could have chosen a better seat.
- Bring the right tools: In this case, a roll of 400 speed film would have gone a long way in getting better photos. Certainly, I’m not talking about composition, but I did have a few blurred ones do to shutter speed especially as the sun began to set. An earlier visit would have shown that this was an ‘intimate’ setting. In other words, very poor lighting.
- Plan ahead a little bit, if possible: Had I known that I would want/need 400 speed film, I could have ordered some and had it ready. I have 5 rolls on order. They should be here Monday. I’ll keep them in reserve for just such a situation.
- Seating: If possible, move around and find the best vantage point for what type of photos you want to shoot. Initially, I thought that I’d want to take photos of the poetess; however, it turned out that I was more interested in the crowds reactions to her poems, especially when I saw where they set up the microphone. She would be backlit! I would have taken a seat a bit further back and more to the left so as to see the maximum number of people. Also, a few of my photos had lens flare even with the lens hood on. It’s kind of hard to get good shots shooting into a backlit situation, as you can see. Getting a better angle on the window would have helped … perhaps.
Given that there were a few things that I learned, I was pleased with the photos that I took. I came away with a few that I really liked. Certainly, a couple of items could have been taken care of by using digital; however, it just wouldn’t feel the same. 
I really like this process a lot. I don’t get the same feeling with digital. There’s nothing wrong with it, for sure, but I don’t get the same sense of gratification.
I’ll share more images in the coming posts.
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11 Responses to “Lessons Learned”
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I say if you came away from the experience having learned something that is always a successful journey. This is a fine image. excellent composition. I love the man’s expression.
As far as poetry goes…I think I will never get it. I am far too concrete a thinker for the abstract nature of most poetry. Oh well.
Excellent image there is a complex story in this and the soft background really sets off the person. Perfect light. I have always enjoyed the thinking and disconnect that I get from poetry.
I am not sure I understand the gratification from the process part, to my mind the finished image/story is where I find the satisfaction and whatever tools allow that to happen are what I will gravitate to using. I am using my G9 for a lot of this kind of work lately, as you point out the D300 is loud and draws attention. G9 files aren’t all that great in low light but post processing takes care of some of that. I am adding the M3 to the mix with some of the film stocks I see Chris using to try out indoors this winter, largely to get the kind on images and story the photo above is telling. Right tools in the right place to tell the story?
I like this image with the smile on the mans face and the reader in the background. It tells a powerful story!
I like you lessons learned and have used them in my travels. With the repeated overnights for my work and returning to locations, I’m finding what works and what does not work: lessons learned.
I also want to let you know I am going to hold you personally responsible if I end up purchasing a compact rangefinder in the near future.
His expression is just wonderful. What kind of hand held shutter speeds were you getting?
@Laurie: I like poetry, especially Haiku, but this poetry didn’t move me. I rather enjoy the abstract thoughts and profound messages.
@Monte: I would take full responsibility! Soon, who knows, film plants may be opening up again, hiring people, and we will be the heroes of the global economy! Hurray!!!
However, if you buy a compact digital, well, all bets are off! 
@Chris: I was shooting at 1/30. I shot some as low as 1/15, but, as you can guess, they were a bit blurry. I could have propped my arms on the table to form a more stable shooting platform, but I was trying to be stealthy and whatnot.
Being stealthy and s-l-o-w-l-y pressing the shutter to minimize shake are not necessarily complimentary to each other.
Dang this is nice. Are using the zone? i.e., for this one, did you meter on the gents face and then open up 2 stops.
It’s really working here.
I like the way that image tells it’s story in several sub-sceneries. And backlight I found most often to be the most rewarding light, and if it’s only for the reason that still quite a number of people shy away from it. The scenery above would not be half as interesting without the backlight.
@Chris: Good point. I simply placed it up to my eye, composed, focused, snapped, and waited for the next opportunity.
@Tom: Nope. Nothing fancy. I just metered when I got into the room into an area that I thought might be neutral gray. I kept that combination, then took the pictures. I find that this works really well rather than to think about zones and whatnot.
Later, as the light levels started to fall, I just took a guess at how much they had dropped, reduced my shutter speed accordingly, and kept shooting.
As I was shooting wide open, no zone. I had to focus first, then shoot, but I’m getting fairly fast with the RF focusing. The interesting thing was that I kept the camera around my neck, everyone saw it, so after a photo or two, everyone simply forgot that I was there. And, as you know, the camera is so damn quiet that once they forgot about it, there was nothing to remind them of it.
Damn, is this a nice picture, or what? Just love how he seem to enjoy the moment. The expression makes me wonder if he’s thinking of something else, rather than following the poet’s reading…
I had the same thought as Ove. This fine gentleman with the infectious smile almost looks as though he might be in his own private world. The pen in his hand caught my eye also. Is he still writing his own poem, or following along on a copy of the poem being read? Lots of fascinating questions.
I always enjoy knowing that others have a collection of lessons learned. Rooms could be filled with the hard drives it would take to hold all my “learning experiences” that will never see the light of day.