Light…Quantity

   Gauging the quantity of light on a subject is among the first decisions photographers make before releasing the shutter to create an image. It is the most revealing part of the image-making process. Without understanding the technical aspects of camera exposure, the photographer will fail to speak for his images with clarity and resolve.

   Exposure requires two pieces of information to make images with a camera: shutter and aperture. A light meter in your hand or camera can give you a starting point for exposure; remember, subject determines shutter, and your light meter supplies aperture.

Madonna & Child With Chains, Los Angeles, California, From “Twenty Square Photographs”

About Twenty Square Photographs

   I chose a subject, industrial areas of cities, and settled on photographing a section of Los Angeles near the Los Angeles River. My concept and first images of ”Twenty Square Photographs” began by using a Mamiya C220, a inexpensive square medium format camera, and a correspondingly cheap hand held light meter, which would supply without much fuss the correct exposure for a given scene. I also decided to shoot all the images for the project with a leveled tripod.
  From ”Twenty Square Photographs”:

“From the most northerly point, North Mission Road,
a little north of Cesar Chavez Avenue, to the most
southerly point, Olympic Boulevard, is a distance of
six miles.
The most eastern projection was Boyle Heights, the
westernmost point was Alameda Street, is a distance
of three miles.”

The project was made into a book with the same name and is available as a Blurb Fine Art Photography book:
              http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/2352573 

                                         All Content © Craig Carlson 2012 All Rights Reserved