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December 1, 2008 |
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Created and Maintained by: The Photoimaging Information Council |
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Columns |
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David Bradford is a photographer and New York City taxi driver, who epitomizes the concept of carrying a camera during regular day-to-day activities. Every morning at 4am, while most people are still asleep David Bradford begins his day by stopping at the store around the corner from his Manhattan apartment and purchases one role of black and white film.
 Q&A TGP: What do you think the main weaknesses are among amateur photographers?
Bradford: That they think they don’t know anything. They shouldn’t think that. If I were to teach photography I would require my students to use automatic cameras and shoot without looking. To build their awareness and confidence in their unconscious eye.  Q&A TGP: That’s almost the opposite of the conventional wisdom, in which new photographers are told to get a manual camera, learn how the shutter and aperture work etc.
Bradford: Right, people think they need all this equipment, a tripod, artificial light. If you learn to see properly you can do great work with a $150 camera. I tell people you don’t need to know anything about photography, you just need to know what makes a great photograph.  Q&A TGP: For you, what makes a great photograph?
Bradford: When a lot of things congeal at one time, mixed together--style jamming. Different types of styles or different patterns, or directions of movement within a composition, or when the light is fantastic--the way it might hit a group of people on the street, or reflect off bus windows. Early morning and late afternoon light tend to be the most interesting, unless you have a traumatic stormy day. I find it fascinating to shoot prior to a storm or after a storm because the air is unusually clear, or even during a storm because everyone is acting differently, their expressions change….more drama happens.  Q&A TGP: How do you know when to click?
Bradford: I like that phrase, “when to click,” because that sort of sums it up. You need to understand body movement, and how that relates to what’s about to happen in the next moment with your subject. Anticipating this, reading this quickly and knowing that that’s it-the decisive moment. Timing. There are moments of any movement that are more revealing. Practice it by looking for that moment even when you don’t have a camera.  Q&A TGP: Is there anything more to capturing the decisive moment when you take a picture?
Bradford: I think we need, first and foremost, to be able to empathize with our subject, that is, to feel something for it. I’m going after what’s visceral, what really speaks to me quickly and directly--that is, nothing fixed or posed…just what’s the energy there, just from the gut. Shooting without looking, training your hand and eye to work together. You learn to do it if you have blind faith in your instincts--like a kid.  Q&A TGP: What are the essential skills necessary to do drive-by shooting type photography-that is candid shots taken while driving a car?
Bradford: Number one you have to make sure that you don’t impair the driving at all, otherwise don’t do it. Number two, don’t think you’re ever going to be able to look through the lens or viewfinder-in fact don’t count on doing that at all. Of course before anything you have to have imagination. TGP: You’ve cultivated the ability to use the windshield almost as a second lens. How do you use it? Bradford: Well, I use any part of the cab. It can be the back window, the side window, the mirrors, whatever. I play with dirt on the windows, certainly with snow, I love to shoot with the windshield wiper working in the rain. Sometimes at a red light when it’s really pouring I’ll shoot with no windshield wiper so there’s complete distortion-shooting through a sheet of water. I love side mirror shots-it’s another perspective. TGP: What are your favorite special effects in drive-by shooting type images? Bradford: Of course to use elements of the taxi, patterns, shape, the blur of rain-how rain reacts to whatever it hits, same with snow. TGP: What are the main benefits and limitations of shooting from a car? Bradford Benefits-the motion, creating another reality of movement. Being able to transverse miles in one day or night, whereas walking you couldn’t do that. The downside-missing a shot because I was going too fast.  Q&A TGP: Do you ever ask permission to photograph your subjects?
Bradford: No, or I should say, rarely. When you ask someone if you can take their picture, you usually destroy the moment because they’re going to get ready for the shot. I’m usually trying to shoot on the fly, just turning the camera around while I’m driving. It’s such a small camera and there’s no noise. Early one Sunday morning I once took a quick shot of a couple of what must have been lap dancers at an intersection. When the flash went off one of the women yelled, “what did you do!!!…you can’t do that!!!!” We were at a red light, they found a cop and he took my film. But that was the only time that happened.  Q&A TGP: What tricks and techniques have you learned for shooting from a car that improve your images or that make shooting from a car easier or better?
Bradford: Well, to not look through the lens, which means that you can “throw” your eye, that is, extend your eye backwards, forward, up, down, sideways, whatever. And to realize that anything can be a subject, if given the right perspective. Not to be afraid to use mirrors…not to be afraid to shoot backwards, not to be afraid to shoot left handed, if you’re right handed. I find I shoot a little bit differently when I shoot left handed. TGP: Describe your photographic style. Bradford: Instinctual.  "Whatcha looking at?" Q&A TGP: What do you make of the observation about your work that, on one hand, it appears to have been created rapidly, and on the other, that you create images that require fairly lengthy study to fully appreciate?
Bradford: The unconscious eye is always roving unconsciously. I rely on that, I trust it. TGP: Tell us about the design of the book. Bradford: The first designer the publisher hired backed out, the second designer worked on the book for a few months, and what he did was horrible, so I ended up doing the design myself. It begins in the morning, goes through the day and night and then begins another day, including the seasons.  Shoulder Check Q&A TGP: What makes perfect lighting for you?
Bradford: I don’t know that there ever is perfect light. I look for interesting light. TGP: What’s a perfect subject for you? Bradford: Someone or something visceral-I’m also looking for humor--something my camera can have a dialog with. TGP: Do you ever use a zoom lens? Bradford: No.  Singing in the frame! Q&A TGP: Describe your equipment.
Bradford: Just a Yashica T4 point and shoot. And my cab. TGP: Do you think you could do your sort of imaging work without the taxi? Bradford: Yeah. I just did a commercial shoot in which most of the shots weren’t taken in the cab. It felt liberating to be out of the cab. My next book will be rush hour from many different vantage points.  Q&A TGP: That book is already in production?
Bradford Not yet.  Q&A TGP: I’ve got a taxi question for you. Where’s 10 Downing Street?
Bradford: Sixth Avenue, just below 4th Street. Manhattan.  Q&A TGP: Well done. Most of our readers will think instead of the Prime Minister’s residence in London.
Bradford: Long fares are great, but that might be a bit extreme. ‘Drive By Shootings’ is available at a variety of retailers including Barnes and Noble. 
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