Flow

It doesn’t happen at every shoot or with every model, but sometimes while working with a model the two of us enter a state of flow where everything seems to just vanish except for the shoot (for a good overview of the idea of flow I suggest Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experienceby Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi).  I’ve always found my best work comes from here.  It’s a fragile thing though and easily broken by the smallest outside interruption like a cell phone beep or a knock on the door.  When we’re in the flow an amazing amount of good work can be done in a short amount of time.  The model and I operate almost as a single unit to produce images, lost in the act of creating the images and operating at a level below thought and on instinct.  This image from a recent shoot with Melissa came from exactly one of those moments.

The photos come may come fast or slow, but the transitions move so smoothly that the normal evaluation of each individual photo becomes irrelevant.  Instead of the click, evaluate, change/correct, click process it works more like click, change, click.  In spite of the loss of that evaluation step, I usually find the images are as good if not better than done during the rest of the shoot.

I think this happens because for two reasons.  First is that while in the flow state I’m more focused on the process than the result.  I don’t analyze each image on the back of the camera, I just work on getting the current image onto the camera and I also stop thinking as much about each image.  I see those little moments that might otherwise pass by while I’m planning and just take images as they appear.  Second, the model and I are working as a single unit and I don’t have to pose each image.  I can be reactive to her and let her lead and she can react to my changes without needing verbal instructions.  In the shot with this post for example the pose evolved when I simply moved against the wall Melissa is leaning on and photographed her from a different angle than before.  She adjusted to this new angle without me having to ask or tell her what I wanted.  She just knew how to move for the shot.

When I go through the photos after the shoot I almost always find one photo that just stands out.  It’s not always one that I expected, but as soon as I see the image, the final version just appears in my head.  This photo of Melissa did just that when I saw it.  I saw the above version almost at once.  It has nothing in common with the photos taken on each side of it other than the subject and I think is one of my favorite two or three that I’ve taken with her.