In documentary photography, much of what you do is set yourself up compositionally, and then take a bunch of pictures as the action unfolds. It takes a lot of patience and trust as you have to see the scene before it happens. You may have to move around a bit until you get all the aspects of the scene exactly where you want them, and then, you wait. Shooting through is when the scene unfolds in front of you and continue to shoot as they action unfolds. Once you see that your subjects are moving into a place that suits you, you start pushing the shutter button and keep going until your subjects have moved all the way through. This is not the same as spray and pray. I don’t mean set your camera on continuous mode and hold you shutter button down. Shooting through requires much more intention. And though, as I describe it, it sounds quick, it isn’t. It just simply means stay put and don’t give up on the action too early. Sometimes, those last unexpected moments are the shot you want.
An example of shooting through – use SOOC images as well as finals.
This is actually a set of two different spots from which I shot. I set up the composition I wanted and as the moment unfolded, I continued to shoot until the action ended. These are all the SOOC.
These are the ones I chose and edited.
Photography is like therapy to me. These techniques I learn as I shoot become a metaphor for how I want to live my life. As I learn to work through them with a camera in my hand, the lesson carries over into my daily life as a wife, mother, and human being. I lack patience and documentary photography requires a shitload of patience. Most of the time, you have to sit there and wait for the moment to unfold. And personally, I would like to force the moment to unfold so we can move on to the next. When I sit still, waiting, hoping something good with happen, I am out of control and I don’t like being out of control. Being out of control means that I have to trust others, trust the process, and that I might not get exactly what I want. Documentary photography requires a lot of faith. Faith that if I just do the things that I can control like get the settings right and get my composition right, the moment will come. And then sometimes it doesn’t. And when it doesn’t, it feels like a failure and I don’t like to fail because then that would mean that I am a horrible photographer and I shouldn’t even be trying.
The first time I was exposed to this concept of shooting through was in a workshop called Portrait Revolution by Lindsay Bergstrom via Illuminate Classes. Lindsay was setting up a scene in a museum with her daughter. And she took, what felt like, a million images. I was shocked. No way could a photographer as good as Lindsay have to take that many shots to get one good one. I don’t even know where the idea that the number of shots you take indicates how good of a photographer you are? Seeing her process helped me understand that being a good photographer wasn’t some magical feeling that you achieve through luck, but more a discipline of patience, faith, and work. This lesson was such a breakthrough in my journey because I realized that all we have to do is show up.
CHALLENGE
I’d love to challenge you to try this technique and see how it makes you feel. Feel free to tag me in your final products on Instagram or you can send them to me via my contact form if you don’t use social media.