Big Pete, originally uploaded by norbography.
Are you a gear whore seemed to stir up plenty of conversation on a couple of photo forums and Flickr groups I posted it on. It was mention in one discussion that no matter the gear, if you managed to capture what Cartier Breson called the “decisive moment”, it would make for a good photo. The shot above is one time I have managed to do exactly that. Pete is a friend of a friend, who I have only met 2 or 3 times, but this photo captured him perfectly. The boy can giggle. This shot was taken with one of my old film cameras, a Nikon FE with a Sigma 24 f/2.8 lens. Shot under pretty ordinary lighting, it captures Pete having one of those moments where you just let it all hang out. We had just all been told a rather dirty joke that obviously tickled Pete’s fancy. Although the photo isn’t technically great, the content more than makes up for it. I get a bigger buzz out of this sort of photo than some technically great shot or some arty shot that I fluked.
Love to hear peoples thoughts.