The photographers who shoot for National Geographic magazine often find themselves in situations which require great perseverance to make great photographs. But at other times, powerful photography can come from much easier situations.

This was the case when Magnum photographer Chris Anderson made the image of Palestinian workers lined up in the morning at a crossing point in the security wall built around Bethlehem. As Chris explains: “this was hard to miss, they lined up every morning starting around 4 AM.”

But that makes it sound far too simple. Because what Chris did was not simply record the line of people, he “worked” the situation. This is a term often used by photographers when describing how they will shoot a subject for as long as possible. The goal is to capture that one moment when all the elements come together: the light is favorable, the angle is interesting, the subjects are expressive, etc. As story tellers, photojournalists are trying to capture the essence of the situation in a way that is an honest reflection of the event.

For the wall photo, Chris moved to action as the sun began to climb and illuminate the subjects, he scampered up onto the fence so that he could shoot down on the scene. The higher angle helped to separate the crowd of people and to make it clear that this was indeed a line. And by shooting down the line, Chris employed the converging diagonal lines of the perspective to draw the eye along in the composition.

And then the scene interestingly composed, one worker walked up and scaled the fence to join his friends just a few feet in front of Chris. “It added the needed dramatic element to the photograph,” Chris explained. It was a serendipitous moment that helped to elevate a good image to one that became a dramatic and story telling. The photo went from being good to great.

One way that Chris achieves images with such a natural feel is that he often shoots with a “normal” focal length 50mm lens. Chris says “I know it so well, that I know what is in the frame even before the camera reaches my eye. … this is the way the eye sees, the perspective is the same and there is no distortion.”

The way that Chris works is a lesson for any  aspiring photographers who assumes that having a large selection of lenses, from ultra-wide to super telephoto, is essential to making great photographs. It is simply not true. Superior photographs can be made with the simplest of gear. The important thing is to take time to learn the capabilities of your camera so well that you instinctively know when to capture the magical dance of elements that come together to make a great photograph.

Chris’ story on Bethlehem was just honored with an award in the annual World Press Photography competition. Click here to see more of Chris’ photographs.

Comments