ANTICIPATION

4 he less control you have over a shooting

situation, the more valuable it is to have
an idea of what may happen next. Though
together in the frame, and the way to improve
this is to keep in mind as many types of
successful image composition as possible—the
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largely irrelevant in studio work and other repertoire on pages 162-163, in other words.
MOVEINTOPOSITIONANDSHOOT4HISWASA-ANDARI
kinds of constructed photography, it is hugely On the behavioral front, the number CATTLECAMPWHEREYOUNGMENANDBOYSLIVEWITH
important in reportage. Anticipation is a skill of situations is infinite, but there are some THECATTLEFORPARTOFTHEYEARATADISTANCEFROMTHE
that goes much deeper than photography, and identifiable types. There is a general situation in VILLAGE#ATTLEPLAYANIMPORTANTSOCIALANDCULTURAL
draws mainly on observation and a knowledge one location, of the kind described particularly ROLEASWELLASANECONOMICONEINTHISETHNIC
of behavior. Using it for photography gives it
a particular edge, because the aim is not just
to work out how a situation might unfold and
how a person may react, but how the results
will work graphically. The example opposite,
from a cattle camp in southern Sudan, shows
this combination. The aim is always to translate
the event into an organized image. As Henri
Cartier-Bresson put it, “To take photographs
means to recognize—simultaneously and
within a fraction of a second—both the fact
itself and the rigorous organization of visually
perceived forms that give it meaning.”
Therefore, there are two strands to
anticipation. One is concerned with behavior
and action, and also the way in which things
move across the field of view and the light
changes. This can be honed by staying focused
and attentive, and by practice. The other
strand is graphic, predicting how shapes,
lines, and all the other elements that we saw
in Chapters 3 through 5 will shift and come
GROUPINSOUTHERN3UDAN4HEANIMALSHAVENAMES
well by the French reportage photographer
ANDAFINEPAIROFHORNSISPARTICULARLYPRIZED4HE
Robert Doisneau: “Often, you find a scene, a LOCATIONWASRIPEWITHIMAGEPOSSIBILITIESAND)
scene that is already evoking something—either ALREADYHADANUMBEROFSUCCESSFULSHOTS
stupidity, or pretentiousness, or, perhaps, charm.
So you have a little theatre. Well, all you have to
do is wait there in front of this little theatre for
the actors to present themselves. I often operate in
this way. Here I have my setting and I wait. What
I’m waiting for, I don’t know exactly. I can stay
half a day in the same place.” There is a specific
type in which the shot as framed is good provided
that some element, such as a person, moves into
a particular position. Another type is focused
on a subject that you have already identified but
which is not yet graphically a picture—imagine
that, in wildlife photography, you have found the
animal but the shot depends on it moving into
a particular view. When photographing people,
expression and gesture form yet another class.
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