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| Nikon D850, 50mm 1.4G |
I've always enjoyed looking at sketches by both professionals and amateurs. There is something very appealing about looking at a scene and quickly putting the essence of it down on paper. Picasso did brilliant sketches, Dali made sure his cheques wouldn't be cashed by restaurants if he sketched something on the back of one, and even non-painters like Sylvia Plath did decent drawings.
I would like to do pencil sketches, but I'm not sure I have the talent for it. It's said that you shouldn't take up piano at an advanced age. Does the same hold true for arts that take a lot of practice and skill like drawing and painting? Anyway, I do photography because, like William Henry Fox Talbot, I can't draw. But maybe I can still do sketches.
According to some dictionary definitions, a sketch is a quickly drawn picture that doesn't have many details and is not usually intended to be a finished work. A photograph can't really be a picture lacking many details, but it can certainly be a quick picture not meant to be a work of art. I almost wrote, "like a snapshot", but I think a sketch is more deliberate than that.
A few days ago I put a roll of HP5+ in my Minolta X-700 with no clear purpose other than wanting to use the X-700. But maybe that could be my pencil and sketchbook, as it were. It's too bloody hot and humid these days to lug heavy cameras and a tripod around, but the Minolta is small and light and perfect for making quick photographs if I absolutely must go out somewhere. It might be an interesting project to make sketches of things around my neighbourhood and city regardless of the light and weather. Black and white film is still relatively cheap and I can concentrate on shape, light, and line.
You will, however, notice that the first of my sketches was done on a large digital camera, contradicting the plan I described in the previous paragraph. It doesn't matter. Using film isn't a rule, it just matches up more closely than digital to the idea of a pencil sketch I have in my mind. I'll probably use digital when it's more convenient. The photo above, for example, required an ISO of 5600 at an aperture of f11.
I imagine it will be a couple of weeks before sketches on film start appearing here. Black and white film isn't as expensive as colour film, but I can't afford to use it up quickly.
Can't say I've ever rated HP5+ at anything like 5600. I remember from my brief foray into digital it was astounding what could be pulled from very low light.
ReplyDeleteShape, light and line. That sounds like it should be writ large and noted before we pick up any camera.
Engrave it on the camera back, perhaps? :) I used to have "Make, don't take" on paper taped to the back of a couple of cameras. A reminder to slow down and think before pressing the shutter button.
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