Albert Watson Lesson 4 - Photography Is Stopping Time

ALBERT WATSON
LESSON 4 – PHOTOGRAPHY IS STOPPING TIME
“There’s something about holding the device and looking

through it and hitting a shutter and realising you can stop
time.”
Albert takes you back to when he was just 14 years old. He describes
the moment he found a box Brownie camera, took his sister out to
Edinburgh to take pictures of her, and fell in love with photography.
“What is the concept of what you're doing? What is your

idea?”
He goes on to talk about the importance of conceptualisation — an

importance driven home to him by his graphic design lecturers — and
insists that you must think before you shoot.
“When you learn to drive a car, it’s not the driving of the
car, it’s where you take it. So the same thing should be
applied to a camera.”
Albert reveals that he is not the technical photographer people
believe him to be. Though he appreciates the creative doors the
technical side of photography can open, he admits he did not find the
learning process easy.
He emphasises that though the technical aspects are necessary and

important, a photographer should not get swept away with them. A
focus on imagery and creativity is paramount.
TRANSCRIPT
When I was 14 I discovered this Box Brownie camera and I asked my
father would it be possible to get a couple of rolls of film which he
did. And he showed me how to load the camera which he did once a
year when he took family pictures. And I actually went into Edinburgh
with my younger sister and I went around Edinburgh with her, she
was six years old. And I took pictures of her around Edinburgh. And it
was only one day in my life and I brought the pictures back and
processed them and I actually liked them. And I got another roll of
film from my father, the third roll, and I took my other sister and did a
few pictures with her. And it's strange, it was only really two days in
total in my life that I did that, but I can remember it crystal clear of
trying to find a shot in the camera. And you can imagine how
primitive a Box Brownie was and the middle was slightly out of
alignment in the camera, the little viewfinder that you look through.
But I remember that moment really, really, really well when I took my
sister in on the bus and walked around Edinburgh and took pictures
of her and so on. And, of course, I only had on the first day 24 frames
and the second day 12 frames. I just remember there was something
about holding the device, you know, and looking through it and
hitting a shot at that moment you hit the shot, realizing how that you
could stop time, you know.
Years later, it was, let me see, another seven years later when I got
into art college and suddenly got involved with graphic design and
then they started, for the first time, a photography course. I had the
same feeling when I got a camera there and began to look through it.
And I just fell in love with the idea of a rectangle. And when you think
about photography, people who are passionate about it, everything
just really more or less comes down to a rectangle. Every movie
you've ever seen, more or less, is a rectangle. You might be shooting
a square or you might be shooting panoramic but everything's a
rectangle. And I think I analyzed that pretty early on especially when I
was involved with graphic design. And I will be forever indebted to
my graphic design teachers for instilling in me that idea of graphics
and pictures and also the importance of thinking about things before
you shoot. And, in terms of graphic design, thinking of things before
you put pencil to paper. In other words, what is the concept for what
you're doing? What's your idea? Not let me just walk around and take
pictures which of course I did. But what was the concept, where were
you going? And I always remember the first time that I got my hands
on the school camera which was a Pentax Spotmatic, I remember that
I had spent really two weeks, because it was only one camera and I
had to wait until it was my turn, and I remember thinking for those
two weeks what was I gonna do with the camera? Another one of the
students had just went out and took pictures.

And I was thinking, thinking what I would do. And I remember that I
had seen in Dundee on a Sunday morning the Salvation Army going
into these old tenements in Dundee that are no longer there and
singing and playing music. And I decided to do the two rolls of film
that I had basically just photographing the Salvation Army and their
instruments. And, of course, I was very lucky 'cause it was a cloudy
day and the black uniforms with the shiny instruments, the heads, the
singing, I was able to do some, which I consider even to this day,
some very nice pictures. But the important thing was I analyzed
things beforehand. What was I gonna do? In my time with this
camera, which you only got for a weekend, what was I gonna do with
the camera? And so therefore, as I said, I'm really indebted to how
the graphic design lecturers instilled in you conceptualization. And a
lot of that I use to this day. As I became later much more embedded
with photography I had realized that I had definitely a great love of
photography but I really had a problem with a lot of the technical
things. I really was not that kind of person. I really had difficulty with
a lot of the technical aspects of photography. And I had friends who
were photographers over the years who loved the technical side. So I
think in the beginning it was a slog for me.
Once I really became a working photographer it was a real slog for

me to learn. But there's actually a great analogy with learning
photography and learning to drive a car, where the first time you get
in a car you think I'll never manage this, I'm gonna kill somebody. I'm
gonna hit a wall or even worse kill myself. And after a week of lessons
you feel a little bit better about things. Then let's go as far as two
years later. You actually begin to drive almost automatically. You get
into a car and you automatically turn it on, you automatically change
gears, you automatically look in the mirror. And that's a little bit of
something about that that once you get over that hurdle of technical
things in a car you've learned to drive the car and I kind of use that as
an analogy for photography. In other words, learn to drive the camera
and learn to really know the camera inside out to begin to really
study lighting and to understand what lighting can give you in a
picture and what natural light can give you or a mixture of that. And
there really is fantastic thing when you learn all of that and I did. And
I felt it opened doors creatively for me.
However, when you learn to drive a car it's not the driving of the car,
it's where you take it. So the same thing should be applied to a
camera. Get all the technical things in your back pocket so you can
use them but don't let that be the driving force. Do not spend hours,
and hours, and hours, days and days looking at magazines for the
latest lenses, the latest cameras, the latest software programs, the
latest computer connections. Try and keep that on the back burner.
Learn to drive the car, it's where you're gonna take it. Learn to drive
the camera, it's where you're gonna go with the camera. So because
people do think of me as a technical photographer I can reveal that

that is not the case and it was a real slog in the beginning. So for
those of you that have trouble, I know that some photographers have
a very hard time with the technical and I often commensurate with
them. I've known a lot of very, very fine good photographers,
wonderful who, I often say to them that they have the advantage of
not enjoying the technical part of photography. I said it could be an
advantage, you know, 'cause all of your concentration goes into the
imagery.

Albert Watson Lesson 4 - Photography Is Stopping Time

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Albert Watson Lesson 4 - Photography Is Stopping Time

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Albert Watson Lesson 4 - Photography Is Stopping Time

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

ALBERT WATSON

LESSON 4 – PHOTOGRAPHY IS STOPPING TIME

“There’s something about holding the device and looking

“What is the concept of what you're doing? What is your

He goes on to talk about the importance of conceptualisation — an

He emphasises that though the technical aspects are necessary and

Once I really became a working photographer it was a real slog for

You might also like