Flow and the Art of Wedding Photography
Over at 37signals there is an interesting post on the state of “Flow” described by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi as
being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and you’re using your skills to the utmost.
Some athletes call it being in the zone, being able to tune out the crowd during a crucial freethrow at a finals game, letting muscle memory take care of the ball’s trajectory. Jim Paredes just recently talked about Flow and his song writing process and how his best songs were created at this state in less than five minutes.
Flow is something I try to reach in every wedding. During Flow, I let my subconscious take over the camera settings, I let him decide if I turn on the flash or not and I let him change the lens for me. I let him find the moment, let him decide where to point the camera and when to press the shutter.
Mimi tells me she gets into the flow once she starts shooting the details. I, on the other hand, need a trigger to reach this mindset. Before each wedding I need to listen to either California by Phantom Planet or 1979 by the Smashing Pumpkins. I don’t really know why but I swear it works. :laugh:
But I do admit that Flow sometimes escapes me, specially when I haven’t shot a wedding for like a month or the videographer’s style is having his lens just a foot away from the couple’s face. Shooting with Flow is probably one of the reasons that make me enjoy wedding photography and get the killer shots in the process.
How ’bout you guys? What’s your Flow story?
18 November 2006 @ 1:25 am
Hindi ka pa ba nagsasawa sa California? :hehe:
“Mimi tells me she gets into the flow once she starts shooting the details.” — True, but not all the time. You forgot the power of good light. :winking:
18 November 2006 @ 3:18 am
Maganda yang flow-flow na yan pag naka-kain ka na ng masarap na pagkain. Hehehe. Saka pag madaming interesting subjects. 😉
18 November 2006 @ 11:55 am
california…here I coooooommmme….
yes, that’s a really good song to start your flow with. 🙂
shakedown 19-7-9..cool kids never had the time… — i wonder why…never figured it out yet ever.. LOLZ
hello to d bot opyu. 😉
20 November 2006 @ 9:17 pm
Hey Ryan thanks for dropping by!
23 November 2006 @ 8:30 am
Intrestingly enough Karl, that’s exactly the term me and Pang use when editing pieces – “I got the flow.”
Which means:
I can tear through the timeline like crazy.
I won’t/can’t go home yet because I gotta maximize the flow.
It’s gonna be another kickass edit.
I also find that doing Onsite Videos, jacks me up and induces a state of “flow” particularly if the song is nice or if I have killer shots.
Sadly, I must disagree with one note. 1979 never does “it” form me. I’ll take “Today” anytime.
🙂
23 November 2006 @ 6:35 pm
J-man,
While listening to 1979, I also replay the music video in my head (Classic!). What also works for me is watching the opening sequence of Cameron Crowe’s Singles Movie, hassle lang i-play kasi dvd.
Flow be with you!