I often come across photography related quotes and wonder what they originally meant. The quote “F8 and be there” is attributed to Weegee (actually Arthur Fellig) who was a famous street photographer during the 1930’s, 40’s and beyond. Arthur Fellig’s quote was meant to explain his secret to success. I believe it represents a philosophy to keep technical decisions simple and be where your vision takes you. The quote has been the mantra of photojournalists, travel photographers and even nature photographers. To some it implies that great images are the result of happenstance. But in a way, it represents a truism without much meaning. Photographs, wherever they are made and regardless of the subject, always require a “be there” component. The “F8” element speaks to the need for sharpness (the f8 aperture is the sharpest point of some lenses) and also a reasonable depth of field. The ability to work quickly is a necessity when working with action subjects.
The quote though in some ways over-simplifies the process. What made Fellig’s work so captivating was not his use of f-stop or even the fact that he was “there”. Personally, I dismiss this notion of “right place, right time” as helpful in explaining the success of an image. Every image has a place and time element, it is what the photographer brings to that place and time that makes an image meaningful.
In a January 19, 2012 New York Times article, Roberta Smith writes about Weegee’s photography – “The combination of grit, humanity, intensity, merciless opportunism and spatial precariousness, coupled with an eye for uncanny details, regularly resulted in pictures that you can’t stop looking at….” For Arthur Fellig to explain his success as “f8 and be there” only suggests to me that he was so comfortable with who he was and how he wanted to portray events, that he could be anywhere at any time, not worrying about mundane technical questions, and create stirring images. For me, the real meaning of his quote is simplify your process and be true to your vision.
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Great words of wisdom Paul. The quote from the NYT certainly pays him a great compliment, but not something I would imagine one would use about their own work. Mr. Fellig was probably being very humble with that statement.
Thanks Mark! You are right that Mr. Fellig was being humble, it’s interesting though how literal his comment has become. It makes me wonder if sometimes it does better to be less humble and just acknowledge that in what we do craft and personal vision matter most?
Some great points, Paul. When I was in high school (yes, they DID have high schools back then
), a friend of mine’s father used to shoot with a Leica M3 – always with Kodak Pan-X (B&W super-fine grain film, for the youngsters in the audience) with a nominal ASA rating of 32, which he “pushed” to 64 during the development process – and advocated f8 at a 250th of a second. F8 for the same reasons cited by Mr. Fellig and a 250th to minimize/eliminate “shake.” He then blew his photos up to 16×20 (little/no visible grain/sharp as a tack), which amazed everyone.
Thanks Brad, sometimes I really miss the idea of a camera with only a couple dials and no menus with multiple settings to deal with.
Been stupid busy lately & just saw this entry…
Your interpretation (simplify your process and be true to your vision) works pretty well for me. But how about a slight variant “Match your process to your vision.”?
I personally can’t imagine myself spending the time some photographers do setting up view cameras, but if that’s what they need… Or at the opposite end, cell phone images often do a fine job for capturing their moments.
It does occur to me though that sometimes the process can drive the vision. I would think this generally would be a negative, limiting factor, but I can imagine some people finding a P&S freeing them of the weight/complexity/etc of a DSLR allowing them to take images places & times they never did before, or conversely becoming fascinated by the detail offered by a high resolution DSLR.
As usual you make a fine point. I have found though that it really does help to explore processes in order to “find” your own vision. This may be more true of photography than other mediums as the process often allows us to look at things in a way very different from our “normal” vision.