| I have been asked countless times how I teach photography. My story
begins first with an explanation of how I shoot as a photographer.
When I find or pick a place to shoot, actually, sometimes it picks me. I go and just walk around. I get a sense of the environment. Often on these first visits I do not even take any photographs. My attention is not so focused that I want to record anything on film that first time.
Instead, I look at everything. My eyes are just looking and looking and I absorb the place. I take it all in. I look at the details. I look at the shadows. I look at the placement of things. I am aware of the light. I prefer that I am alone at these occasions, or at least, that I am allowed to wander undisturbed.
When I do return, usually a few days or weeks later, I am ready to photograph. I will know what cameras I want to shoot with, whether I will be using 35mm or a larger format. I will have selected my film. And my camera bag will be well stocked with either B/W negative film or color transparency film.
On this second visit, I often shoot a panoramic view of the whole place. Overlapping the film frames, I turn slowly in a clock-wise circle and record the whole scene. It is usually during this panoramic that something catches my eye. It might be an interesting shadow, a detail, or a juxtaposition of elements. I will search it out and will find the perfect shot.
Shapes, forms, and textures are elements that seem to attract my artistic eye. As I work with these images, I usually move in closer and closer. I shoot tightly, often totally abstracting the original object. I will return again and again to the same location to continue shooting. I will return at different times of day, whether dawn, noon or dusk. I will return in any weather.
After several trips, I spread out my negatives or transparencies in my darkroom It is at this point that I start to look at all the images on my light table. It often surprises me to see that I have actually been shooting within a theme. I say that is surprises me, as I am usually unaware that I am shooting thematically. At times, I do become aware of the theme and if I am still drawn to the place, these return visits are usually even more focused and intense. I sense where the remaining photographs are that need to be recorded. I keep going back until I am no longer drawn to the place.
Other photographic portfolio's by Mary Saxton: Dumbarton Oaks |