The background of the “light studies” of David H. Wells (a video)
This podcast explores the evolution of my “light studies,” which are photo-essays on the light and atmosphere of a given place. The first “light study,” on a train station in Philadelphia has since led me to do these projects across the globe.
These “light studies,” unlike my more political photo-essays, are not about the people shown or any larger topic. They celebrate the beauty of a given place. They were initially produced in black and white with film, but more recently have been done in color with digital capture. To see how my more recent “light studies,” particularly those produced in South Asia, are being used, see an “Auto” view of India: and the creative evolution of my project “Concurrence
The audio was recorded at the Hallmark Institute of Photography in Turners Falls, Massachusetts in April 2008 by Thom Burden.
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One thing that I take away from this is that capturing “the decisive moment” is absolutely not just luck or happenstance to be in the right place at the right time. You demonstrate and remind that it is also a matter of knowing how to put yourself in “the right place at the right time” to regularly and repeatedly capture “the moment” across whatever shooting situations and places you wish to capture. Your own discipline in documenting places and times and wearing a watch with a compass is ample demonstration of that. Further, based on what you know from that preparation and discpline you then have the patience to put yourself in the right place and wait or keep coming back to the same place and time to “get it right” and capture what you’re seeking in that time and place. Your “luck” of the “photo gods” in capturing “the moment” over and over again across places and time is really a result of your preparation, diligence and experience.
“Be ready when opportunity comes…Luck is the time when preparation and opportunity meet.” – Roy D. Chapin Jr