Rebirth of top photographers

Chapter 2 Patience is a photographer’s virtue

Chen Pingsheng rubbed his eyes after looking at the photos in the "Photo Circle" for a long time, and felt that they were nothing.

Many master figures in the history of art photography no longer exist, such as Szarkovsky, William Eggleston, Cartier-Bresson, Vivienne, Nobuyoshi Araki, and Xiao Quan.These people can't find any relevant information at all.

As for the photos?terribly sorry?He can only say that the technical level is very good, but the artistic level is very backward.

It is precisely because of this that Chen Pingsheng decided to abandon the commercial photography in his previous life and focus on art photography.

After all, what photographer doesn’t dream of becoming a photographic artist?

He also wants to use his photos to open a photo exhibition in the world's largest art museum. It is not a joint exhibition, not a self-funded exhibition, but the kind of formal art photography that stands on the global stage and makes everyone willing to pay for tickets. exhibition.

Thinking of this, Chen Pingsheng felt that his hands were ready to move.

He wanted to take pictures.

So he began to pick up the two film cameras he had bought from second-hand camera stores in the past two days.

Medium format Braunica SQ-A and full frame film SLR camera Nikon F5.

This was what he chose after thinking for a long time. Speaking of which, both cameras are popular models. First of all, the Braunica, which looks like a Hasselblad film camera, looks like a European brand, but it is actually a European brand. RB company, and the camera quality is very good, some details and user experience are even better than Hasselblad.

However, due to poor management, the company gradually declined and finally disappeared from history, leaving only a few retro film products.

Such a medium-format camera with excellent overall quality has a low reputation, so its price is not expensive. Compared with Hasselblad film cameras, which often cost tens of thousands, the price of four to five thousand is really approachable.Compared with the previous life, film cameras in this world are cheaper, with many machines sold for less than [-].

This was certainly something that was especially kind to his shriveled wallet.

The other Nikon F5, although the brand is more famous, was the first choice of many professionals at that time.But now its light is completely overshadowed by the contemporary Canon eos1v and its own F6. Perhaps out of trust in Canon for shooting portraits, many people, especially girls, will choose Canon when choosing a film camera.

So much so that there is obviously not much difference in performance, but there is a huge difference in price.

A second-hand Canon eos1v can be sold for more than 5000, while the F5 is less than [-].

Of course, what Chen Pingsheng saw now was even cheaper. You could get a [-]% new machine for [-] yuan.This price would have been unimaginable a few decades ago.

It just so happens that he uses F5 for snapshots and Braunica for still life. He can shoot both moving and still life.

And the price is much better than those digital cameras with the same format.The two units together only cost 4500.

As we all know, the frame size of a camera is the key to imaging quality. In the film era, it was the size of the film; in the digital era, it was the size of the sensor.The larger the frame, the more light it takes in, the more details it can capture, and the better the image quality.

The formats from small to large are: 4/3, APS-C, full frame, medium format, and large format.

Currently, the most popular APS-C format digital cameras on the market cost no less than [-] to [-] yuan. This really made Chen Pingsheng feel very unhappy, so he decided to find another way and adopt a film style. After all, artistic photography does not require so much consideration.

In addition to the camera, he also sorted out a lot of miscellaneous equipment and lights in the past two days. Although the previous owner was just a student, he actually bought a lot of flashes and hoods needed for studio shooting, which was a waste of money.

It’s not like I’m doing commercial photography, and I don’t have a studio, so why buy so much indoor equipment?
Except for the tripod, he was ready to get rid of them all to enrich his wallet.

For the time being, the artistic photography he plans to take does not need to be so troublesome, and can basically be done by relying on natural light.Even if he needs light, he will not use a heavy headlight that can be used to lift iron. Instead, he will choose to buy a portable flash.

Just by seeing these things, he knew that the previous owner still had little knowledge of photography and would only listen to the school teacher's instructions to buy some flashy things.

Chen Pingsheng shook his head and looked at his rather thin figure. He felt that his former master was not ignorant, but completely ignorant.

What is the most important thing for a photographer?
Not the equipment, not the technology, not the models.

It's about the body. A body that gasps after just two steps can't sustain a whole day of street sweeping or mountain climbing shooting.

Even if you take sugar water portraits, holding a camera for a day is not an easy task, not to mention finding all kinds of tricky angles.Thinking of this, he opened the "Shadow Circle" and casually changed his name to: Brother Chen, the tough guy.

If you want to do it, be the most enduring tough guy in the photography circle!
Happy Xiao Chen, the less he has, the more he has to show off. He finally understood why his former owner was so depressed after being scolded a few times.

After that, he began to delete hundreds of photos posted in his account over the past few years one by one. Unexpectedly, he would delete them one by one at noon.

The sun shines in front of the curtains, forming streaks of light that reflect the dust floating in the air indoors.Chen Pingsheng stretched and finally cleared the photos. He simply ate instant noodles. Seeing that there was so much sunlight today, he decided to go out and shoot a roll of film.

Because he participated in the school's photography project the day after tomorrow, he had to get the developed film and submit it tomorrow.

This time the project was to shoot in a poor village.That was a spot he worked hard to get.In the past few years at school, except for the teacher who scolded him for having no talent, he was very good at all the other teachers and helped with a lot of chores.If not, how would someone of his caliber have the chance to participate in a photography project like this?

You should know that the photos taken in this project will be sent to the city's Photography Association for review and awards.

While thinking about these things, he installed a separately purchased lens with a focal length of 50mm and an aperture of 1.8 on the Nikon F5 body. Because 50mm is the closest to the human eye, this focal length is also the main choice for street sweeping.

Street sweeping is something that every photographer will experience, and it is also the scene that most tests your patience and composition skills.On the same street, every photographer will take different photos. Good composition can often determine whether a photo is outstanding or not.

At this time, Chen Pingsheng was wandering around the commercial street with his camera. He did not take pictures directly, but carefully observed and used his eyes to find scenes worth shooting.At the same time, he held the camera tightly in his hand and placed it on his chest, as if a cheetah was about to hunt, ready to raise and press the shutter at any time.
Yellow, red, lines, triangles, dots, spheres, all the banners, plaques, buildings and the flow of people on the street have become abstract elements in his eyes at this moment, and he seems to have suddenly entered a state of focusing on shooting.

Suddenly, when his eyes swept across a piece of glass, a string in his mind suddenly tightened, and he stopped instantly.

It was a clothing store. An old woman with gray hair, wearing a blue top and white reading glasses was sitting on a red sofa with a kind face and boredom, seeming to be waiting for her child to change clothes.

The glass opposite her was clear and transparent, reflecting various things on the street. Chen Pingsheng subconsciously walked closer, adjusted the aperture and shutter speed, raised the camera, looked at the viewfinder, and waited for the scene he was expecting to see.

A group of men passed by the window, but he did not press the shutter.

A child was being led by his parents as he passed by, but he didn't press the shutter.

Several girls looked curiously at Chen Pingsheng as he passed by, but he still didn't press the shutter.

Just wait, wait.

Patience is the virtue of a photographer.

It’s also the key to capturing that decisive moment!

I don't know how long it took, but Chen Pingsheng's feet began to feel numb, but he still didn't give up.

At this time, he saw a woman wearing a blue trench coat approaching slowly from the corner of his eye.

She is graceful, her high heels make a crisp sound with her footsteps, and her black sunglasses are cool and sassy.

When Chen Pingsheng realized something, his whole body immediately stiffened and he did not dare to move, like a stone sculpture.

As the lady approached, the old man seemed to want to move his body after sitting for a long time, so he turned his head and looked at the glass. When he looked, he looked into the camera!

Incredibly, the lady on the other side seemed to be attracted by the clothes in the clothing store. She slowed down and actually took off her sunglasses at the same time, hoping to see more clearly.

At this moment, the eyes of the lady and the old man met in Chen Pingsheng's lens, as if they had crossed the river of time and were communicating with their future or past selves!
Their figures are also overlapped by the reflected glass, like a mirror of fate with two sides.

"Crack!"

After the crisp and clear sound of the shutter, there is Chen Pingsheng's excited heart and contented sigh.

He finally found a reason to take pictures again.

(End of this chapter)