The one frame from the fire season
Harriet talks with a Canadian wildfire photographer about the single image each of them cannot stop thinking about, and the ethics of making a beautiful picture of a disaster.
Shooting in the ugliest light of the day
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Show notes
Shooting in the ugliest light of the day
Every beginner is told to shoot at dawn and dusk. Harriet and a street photographer from Manila who works almost entirely at noon explain why the ugliest light of the day is often the most honest, and how to make it work for you.
- Hard shadows as shapes, not problems
- Exposing for the highlights and letting the shadows go
- Why overcast noon is a gift for portraits
- The Manila market series shot entirely between 11 and 2
- Phone cameras in harsh light: what actually helps
Take one photograph at midday this week, on purpose, and send it to the show.
Transcript
G'day, I am Harriet Lowe and this is Golden Hour Is a Lie, a show about photography for people who cannot always wait for the light to be pretty. I called it that because for sixteen years I have been sent to fires, courtrooms and car parks at whatever time the news happened, and the sun has never once cooperated. Today I am joined by a street photographer from Manila who does something I find brave: he shoots almost entirely at noon, in the hardest light of the day, and his pictures are extraordinary. We talk about treating shadows as shapes instead of problems, exposing for the highlights and letting everything else fall away, and his market series shot between eleven and two. If you have only ever photographed at sunset, this might ruin that for you. You are listening on Witspeak Podcasts.
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