At the end of 1995, I left my job at the regional newspaper and started a new life as a freelancer. For the first time since I started taking photos in 1968, my camera became a significant part of my work. I took photos that I would use to pitch for work in magazines. I wrote the articles, but sometimes I enlisted the help of a good friend who was a professional photographer to take the final images.
The photo above shows Clive Malcolm, a well-regarded agricultural scientist in Western Australia. Clive has since passed away, but at this time he was living west of Denmark in a period home set up to reflect life in 1920. I took this and other photos in late 1996 or early 1997 to pitch a story to a magazine called Period Home Renovator. They bought the idea, so my friend visited and took more photos of Clive and his wife, to a more professional standard, and the story was published in 1997.
I published a variety of stories in this way. For some of them, I also took the photos. I was conscious, however, of the limitations of my Olympus. There was always the risk that the back of the camera would get nudged and let light in. As good as the 55mm Zuiko lens was, it could not compete with my friend’s Nikon lenses, nor I with his experience. By this time, my electronic flash had died, and the Olympus did not have one built in. I lacked some of the other accessories that helped to create good quality photos for magazines, and I didn’t have the spare funds to upgrade.
So what made the difference between my photographer friend’s photos and mine? He used a better range and quality of equipment than I had: Nikon camera and lenses, off-camera flash, reflectors and filters. He also shot a lot more film.
However, the big difference was that he approached the creation of a photo with a lot more intent. He crafted photos from the raw materials at hand – the light, the subject, the gear. I am still learning to do the image crafting. I tend to take a usable shot and be satisfied. It’s the efficient approach of a photojournalist or newspaper photographer. In contrast, my friend would adjust the elements of the photo, including any people in it, until he had exactly what he wanted. I am still prone to assuming that my subjects are impatient to escape the front of the lens, so I let them get away early instead of making those fine adjustments that can deliver a better photo.
All the same, I made some progress, scratched out a living and had some fun. I published articles and some of the time they were illustrated by my own photos.