CASE STUDY: JAPANESE MONK

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160 02/#%33 02/#%33 161

REPERTOIRE
4 he model for searching for an image,
described on the previous pages, has real
practical importance in that the “repertoire” can
be analyzed. Even if the visual processes involved
in shooting are too rapid to be deliberated at the
time, what you can do when not shooting is to
review this mental library.
My argument, based on the “active” theories
of perceptual psychology, conversations with
other photographers, and analyzing my own
experiences, is that most photographers bring
to a shooting situation a mental set of image
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162
types that they like. The illustrations here are
an attempt to show a partial example of this,
although I’m fully aware of the dangers of being
too specific. The repertoire does not actually
present itself (at least, not to me) as a stack
of images, but more as a set of compositional
possibilities—templates or schemas, if you like.
In all probability, this is not one hundred percent
conscious, and so these illustrations are too exact
and specific. Nevertheless, with this in mind, they
show the principle of bringing possibilities to the
situation—basically, to see what fits.
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/&&
Needless to say, these are drawn from my
own repertoire, and happened to be the first
two dozen that I could think of in the abstract.
The schemas are a kind of shorthand, and the
accompanying photographs are examples from
actual shoots. As you can see, images like that
of the two Burmese monks on page 180 fit two
possibilities at least. Most images, I suspect, fit
a number of possibilities, and you can make
an exercise of this by playing a kind of domino
game—one schema fits one image, which in turn
#()!2/3#52/ $%,!9
suggests another schema, and so on.
7!,+).').4/ 2%&,%#4)/.
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4( %0(/4/'2!0( %2´3%9% 02/#%33 163
REACTION
4 he repertoire of “images that are known to
work” is the key to a high success rate when
shooting quickly, but bringing it into play calls
on a number of techniques that range from the
practical to the observational. I even hesitate to
call them techniques, because the word suggests
a well-defined procedure, yet some of them are
elusive. Here we are looking at tactics for rapid-
reaction, unpredictable situations—how to
prepare and how to exploit chance. Back again
to Cartier-Bresson: “Photography is not like
whatever one does, there must be a relationship
between the eye and the heart. One must
come to one’s subject in a pure spirit.” He also
emphasized the goal, when photographing
people, of revealing their inner look. In particular,
he referred to the short but highly influential
work Zen in the Art of Archery, written by Eugen
Herrigel. The author, a German, describes how
he sought a closer understanding of Zen by
studying archery under a Master, Awa Kenzo. The
argument was that archery, with its intense focus
An important concept here is a “letting go,”
an emptying of the mind that follows acquiring
and honing the skills. From archery, a key text
in an old archery manual, Yoshida Toyokazu
tosho, lists the techniques and then says that
they are not needed, but continues: “Not being
needed does not mean that they are unnecessary
from the beginning. At the beginning when one
knows nothing, if the beginner does not first
completely learn...” and so on. Herrigel, toward
the end of his book, concludes that the student #!,#544!342%%4
painting,” he said in 1957. “There is a creative of skill and concentration on a single instant of must develop “a new sense, or, more accurately, &ORSTREETPHOTOGRAPHY)NDIAISNOTABLENOTONLY
fraction of a second when you are taking a release in order to achieve a precise hit, could a new alertness of all his senses,” which will FORTHEWEALTHOFEVENTSANDANIMATIONBUTFORTHE
picture. Your eye must see a composition or an promote spiritual focus and “the ability to see allow him to react without thinking. “He no EXTREMEALERTNESSOFPEOPLEINTHESTREETS)FTHEAIM
ISTOSHOOTWITHOUTHAVINGANYONEINFRAMELOOKING
expression that life itself offers you, and you must true nature.” The parallels between archery and longer needs to watch with undivided attention
know with intuition when to click the camera.”
He added that once missed, the opportunity
was gone forever, a salutary reminder.
I can think of four different areas of
preparation: camera handling, observation,
familiarity with compositional techniques, and
state of mind. Probably the most straightforward
part of the preparation is in dexterity at handling
the camera so that it becomes, as more than one
photographer has described it, an extension of
the body, like any familiar tool. In the model
for hunting for images on page 157, this means
practice at the “sideways” input so that the
controls can be applied faster and faster. The
second type of preparation is in developing
more acute observation of people and events—
“situational awareness” (originally an aviation
fast-reaction photography are clear enough,
both in what is trying to be achieved and in the
concentration of focus. Zen training teaches
a way through that leaps over the obstacles of
deliberation and conceptualization.
That said, a true practitioner of Zen would
see it as an abuse and extremely trivial to use Zen
in order to improve photography. Nevertheless,
a significant number of photographers have
expressed an almost spiritual communion
between their consciousness and the reality
around them while shooting, and this surely is
not far from the spirit of Zen. Robert Frank
spoke of identifying with the subject: “I watch a
man whose face and manner of walking interest
me. I am him. I wonder what’s going to happen.”
For Ray Metzker, “As one is making images,
ATTHECAMERAALMOSTTHEONLYWAYISTOFRAMETHE
... Rather, he sees and feels what is going to SHOTINTHEMIND´SEYEANDTHENRAISETHECAMERA
happen ... This, then, is what counts: a lightning ANDSHOOTALLINONEMOTION
reaction which has no further need of conscious
observation.” All this has direct application to
reactive photography, and in particular can be
a solution to a fairly common problem—that
of missing shots by trying to think at the time
of all the compositional and technical issues.
The training involves two kinds of practice.
The first is at learning and using the techniques,
including all those in Chapters 1 through 5.
The second is practice at maintaining a direct
connection with the situation and subject,
while clearing the mind of the much slower
deliberations such as, “Where should I place this +(-%2$!.#%23
in the frame?” or “How closely should I align !TROUPEOFCLASSICAL+HMERDANCERSWEREPREPARING
THEMSELVESFORAPERFORMANCEINAN!NGKORTEMPLE
this edge to the side of the frame?” In summary,
4HESITUATIONALLOWEDTIMETOEXPLOREWITHTHE
term) in other words—by constant attention there’s this flow.” the procedure is “learn, empty, react,” or at least CAMERAANDBECAUSETHEUSUALMAKE
UPAND
and alertness. This can be practiced all the time,
without a camera. The third, compositional skills,
means trying out all the options described in the
bulk of this book and deciding which suit you
best. Finally, state of mind, probably the most
difficult and elusive of the four, is highly personal,
Daisetz Suzuki, a famous Zen scholar of the
twentieth century who provided the introduction
to Herrigel’s book, wrote, “If one really wishes to
be master of an art, technical knowledge of it is
not enough. One has to transcend technique so
that the art becomes an ‘artless art’ growing out
“learn, put aside, react.” In Zen in the Art of DRESSINGWASFAIRLYPREDICTABLE)WASLOOKINGEXACTLY
Archery, the Master exclaims, “Don’t think of FORODDANDCLEARLYUNPOSEDMOMENTSLIKETHIS
what you have to do, don’t consider how to carry
it out!” Herrigel learned, having acquired the
technical skills through endless repetition, to
detach himself, and wrote: “Before [the task] the ')2,7)4("2//-3
and requires finding ways of helping yourself to of the Unconscious.” When we consider the role artist summons forth this presence of mind and 4HETIMEFRAMEAVAILABLEFORMAKINGTHISSHOTOFA
be alert and connected for a shoot. of instinct and intuition in finding and framing makes sure of it through practice.” 4HAIWOMANCARRYINGTRADITIONALBROOMSWASSO
SHORTTHAT)HADLITTLEIDEAIFITWOULDBEWELLFRAMED
There are more esoteric methods of a shot, this rings true in photography. One of
7HILE)WASCONCENTRATINGONSOMETHINGELSE)SAW
preparation, and one that perhaps deserves the goals of Zen is to expect the unexpected
HERMOVINGQUICKLYBEHINDMEOUTOFTHECORNEROF
attention is Zen. Cartier-Bresson professed a and adapt oneself to it, and this certainly has MYEYEANDHADTIMEONLYTOSWINGRIGHTROUNDAND
Buddhist influence on his way of working: “In relevance to photography. SHOOTWITHOUTTHINKING

164 4( %0(/4/'2!0( %2´3%9% 02/#%33 165