One thing Freeman discussed throughout the chapter is the idea of two fundamental ‘camps’ in photography: reactive and planned. This is the idea that a scene, shot, subject or composition can be either reactive or planned. The first thing Freeman does in this chapter is try to break down that binary, that something we typically see as spontaneous and reactive could be planned, and something we typically see as planned may be reactive.
Looking at my own photography, I found that I tend to fit Freeman’s definition of ‘reactive’ much better than his definition of ‘planned.’ I especially identified with Edward Weston, who Freeman quoted as saying starts “with no preconceived idea — discovery excited me to focus.” As somebody with focus issues, I find it challenging at times to do long shoots particularly. Contrarily, I find it incredibly fun to go out in the world for hours at a time and find different things to photograph. It’s the staying in one place for so long with limited subjects that bores me.
The photo I have here is sort of a mixture of planned and reactive, falling outside of that binary like Freeman suggested. Pictured is Andrew Lambert, with whom I am currently interning. I decided I wanted to do a feature profile of him for their business newsletter and came in for an interview and took some photos while I was there.
I would call this mostly planned, in the sense that we were doing a planned interview at a set time for a set duration. It wasn’t a spontaneous subject or setting. The composition itself, however, implies spontaneity in a way. I stepped outside to shoot through the blinds, and so the view is from the hallway. I’m sure to any passers by I looked like a weird – but unrelated – third party snapping photos.