This book felt like a rite of passage. A weighty tome recommended by multiple people, from seasoned professionals to those starting in street photography. In a digital age, contact sheets may seem less important and yet the book is very relevant. The contact sheets felt like snapshots of both the scene but also the mind of the photographer. A literal window into them and their craft.
Coming from a social science background, I was drawn to sections including notes and fieldwork elements. Gilles Peress photographing Bloody Sunday is a good example. His first hand written account and map drawings were later used as evidence in the Saville Enquiry into the massacre in 2010. Like a good photography book, pacing is present. Contrasting the bloody scenes, we see people holidaying in Whitby Bay in Yorkshire. A man in the centre of the frame sits, looking towards the bay off to the right with others sat behind and closest to him, a subject lies on their back looking towards the sky with a piece of straw in their mouth.
It is this mix of subjects which sustains the interest. From serious topics to simply stunning, beautiful images. A mix of timed, structured and perfected images, where you can picture the photographer sitting for a moment to arise, combined with chance encounters with a moment in time. Fleeting moments with perhaps handful of images taken as an event occurred, then the moment passed, never to be repeated again.
For those more technically minded hints are there too. There is detail on the colour codes Josef Koudelka used for images, below. Also the different contact sheet title and numbering used, albeit it with a broad consistency.
- White - for all that appeal to Koudelka
- Yellow - for Magnum
- Red - For books
- Blue - best images, to be used for exhibitions
Through observing patterns and reading the experiences of the photographers, some ideas immerged:
- Take a few images with good composition, say 3 or 4, of the scene but with variations in angles, position or framing
- If the scene looks good, but doesn’t seem to be working, wait. See what evolves and try to anticipate, in a Sam Abell style
- Print contact sheets or small prints of images, add to a notebook then number or caption the prints
- Writing is important alongside the images. It provides evidence and helps to situate the images
- Do what you can to make sure you do the work aka JFDI. Koudelka used just two lenses and motion picture film as they were cheap, but learnt along the way in the process of creating
Whilst the book can be viewed through different lenses - social science or photojournalism, documentary as evidence, workflow or technical process - the quote from Mark Power acts as a good reminder that some images and experiences should just be enjoyed for what they are.
“My work in Poland stropped trying to be Politics and Economics and became more about photography instead. For this picture isn’t about anything more than that. It doesn’t mean anything. It is just what it is and I rather like it for that.” Page 501
This is a book to be revisited. We don’t step in the same river twice.
Magnum Contact Sheets :: Kristen Lubben
ISBN: 9780500292914
