JUNE 16, 2017
INTERMEDIATE
Partner Up for Better Pictures
Shooting excursions with a friend can have
technical and creative benefits
Featuring BILL DURRENCE & BOB WATTS
© Bob Watts
"The long exposure gave me an instance of the camera's sensor revealing a lot
more than I could actually see when I took the picture," Bob says of this image of
Rhode Island's Claiborne Pell Bridge, which connects Jamestown and Newport.
He took the image post-sunset, when it was relatively dark, and set the camera's
controls to vivid color space and +1 saturation to boost the colors of the blue
hour. D700, AF-S VR Zoom-NIKKOR 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED, 3 seconds,
f/4.5, ISO 800, program exposure, Matrix metering.
Not long ago we learned that two members of the extended Nikon family—Bill
Durrence, Nikon School instructor, freelance photographer, workshop leader, and
Bob Watts, Nikon District Account Manager for the New England area—have a
20-year history of taking to the road on their off days for photo shooting
expeditions of two, three or more days. Both were quick to point out the benefits of
what we began to call Bill and Bob's Excellent Buddy System. We were almost as
quick to start taking notes.
Here's what they had to say on the subject of not going it alone when you go out to
shoot:
The Same, Only Different
First, and probably foremost: it's best to join up with someone who's into
photography as much as you are. "You don't want someone wanting to be
elsewhere, or who is impatient as you search out angles and perspectives," Bill
says. "And, of course, you want someone you're comfortable with. The test of that
is if you need to talk all the time."
"We're very accommodating to each other," Bob adds, "There's a lot of, 'Hey, let's
pull over here,' and we do. If you're with others who aren't into shooting, it won't
work that way. A shared passion for photography means more and better
pictures."
Both photographers like the idea of partnering with someone who will often make
different decisions about what constitutes photo opportunities. "Someone who
looks at the world differently will open things up for you," Bill says. "Bob and I will
often stop on a country road, get out of the car and head off in different directions.
We've each seen something that looks good, but it's a different something."
What about different methods of operation, we wondered. "Bill is very meticulous
and precise," Bob says. "He takes his time, and that's something I needed to learn
because I'm a bit more of a run-and-gun person. I took the picture and moved on,
and sometimes it's good to sit and experience the scene and the light. I learned a
lot by watching how Bill would shoot."
"To me the biggest lesson is the idea of walking in someone else's shoes," Bill
says. "It's seeing what he saw that I didn't, and maybe that opens my eyes to new
things. Take a group of photographers and stand them all in the same spot,
looking at the same thing, and they're all going to get different photographs."
© Bill Durrence
White Pine Camp in New York's
Adirondack Mountains was once
the summer White House of
President Calvin Coolidge. Bill set
up his camera for a day-long, halfhour-interval time-lapse series, and
chose this image as a favorite for
the quality and warmth of the light
hitting the water. Exposure: 5
seconds, f/22, ISO 100, aperture
priority, Matrix metering.
© Bob Watts
White Pine Camp in New York's
Adirondack Mountains was once
the summer White House of
President Calvin Coolidge. Bob's
photo was taken later in the day,
and he likes it for the windows'
reflection of the last of the sunlight.
Exposure: 6 seconds, f/2.8, ISO
100, program exposure, Matrix
metering.
Learning Curves
For Bill and Bob, the partnership is pretty much about visual perception and
observation, not verbal learning. They are often in sight of each other and pick up
ideas by watching each other's subject choices and, sometimes, seeing the
results. "I've thought, Hey, that's kind of cool," Bill says, "and I'll shoot it too, but it
won't be the same picture. I'll interpret the subject differently. The benefit of what
we do is not in the skill set, but in the reaction to the world."
But level of skill is an important factor. Both men agree that if you go out with
someone whose skills aren't up to yours, the experience can turn into work. "Bob
and I will talk about things," Bill says, "but they're likely to be technical things
about newer gear that he's learned from his product training. With us it's more
sharing than teaching." And that sharing is mostly rather casual. As Bill points out,
"Often in the car, leaving a location, there's 'Did you see this?' or 'I tried to do that.'
We do show each other the photos we've taken, but it's not a formal thing; more
like, 'Look at how this worked out,' and one of us will turn the camera so the other
can see."
And Share Alike
A great and practical benefit of the buddy system will come into play for you if you
and your partner in pixels are fans of the same camera system. When that
happens, there's a good chance you won't have to carry every piece of equipment
you'd like to have with you, and that you might, in fact, need. When you share, you
lighten the load. "One of us may have a more exotic piece of equipment," Bill says,
and in fact, he and Bob often swap the wide zoom for the Nikon 1 cameras, the 1
NIKKOR 6.7-13mm f/3.5-5.6 VR.
Another benefit of sharing gear is that it can be a test drive for equipment you'll
want to own.
© Bob Watts
Bob and Bill were heading for the
St. Johnsbury (Vermont)
Athenaeum, when the possibilities
of early morning fog and mist
© Bill Durrence
proved irresistible. "We do that a
lot," Bill says. "We improvise,
wander, change direction if
Bob and Bill were heading for the
St. Johnsbury (Vermont)
something looks interesting." Bob
adds, "We waited about 45
Athenaeum, when the possibilities
of early morning fog and mist
proved irresistible. "We do that a
minutes. Early morning fog is really
interesting—it changes, it moves."
D750, AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm
lot," Bill says. "We improvise,
wander, change direction if
something looks interesting." Bob
f/2.8G ED, 1/320 second, f/4.5, ISO
100, program exposure, Matrix
metering.
adds, "We waited about 45
minutes. Early morning fog is really
interesting—it changes, it moves."
Nikon 1 V3, 1 NIKKOR VR 1030mm f/3.5-5.6 PD-ZOOM, 1/250
second, f/8, ISO 160, aperture
priority, Matrix metering.
Making Plans
Because of their busy schedules and often limited time for shooting, Bill and Bob
like to have...well, let's call it a flexible itinerary.
Bob, who tends to suggest the areas and locations that will be of interest to both of
them, is the navigator, the man with the maps and the GPS.
Maps? "GPS today is cool, and we use it," Bob says. "It gives us a lot of freedom
to wander—you're heading in a direction and you say, "That road looks good, let's
go down there. You can wander and not get lost. But for me, half the fun of going
on one of our expeditions is the prep for it, and I love looking at my Delorme maps
to choose sites, scenes and routes."
Bob not only looks, he notes as well—places, routes, times of year and times of
day for the best light. "The nicest light is always early morning and late in the day,
and we've had some long days on these trips, getting up before sunrise to be
ready to shoot when the sun comes up, and then staying late at a location for
twilight and beyond."
Generally Bob and Bill's travels are idea-driven. Though they allow time for
spontaneity and exploration, they always have a specific direction and destination.
Often that destination is a place where artists lived or created their art. It's an
interest and a fascination both men share. "It could be painters back in the 1800s,
like the Hudson River School artists," Bob says. "We once went to the
Adirondacks, then swung down to Lake George to find the site where Georgia
O'Keeffe spent the summers with her husband."
Bob's highlighted maps most often reflect his interest in locations that have artistic
and cultural significance. "If you can combine your photography travels with your
hobbies, interests or just your curiosity about something, it's all that much better."
© Bob Watts
The Balter House, in Acme,
Pennsylvania, was designed by
Peter Berndtson, one of Frank
Lloyd Wright's original apprentices.
This image was taken from the
viewpoint of someone approaching
the house from the driveway. D4S,
AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED,
3 seconds, f/7.1, ISO 250, manual
exposure, spot metering.
© Bill Durrence
The Balter House, in Acme,
Pennsylvania, was designed by
Peter Berndtson, one of Frank
Lloyd Wright's original apprentices.
This image requires sorting of light,
reflection and angle to arrive at the
location. D800, AF-S NIKKOR 1424mm f/2.8G ED, 1/4 second, f/8,
ISO 100, aperture priority, Matrix
metering.
Beyond the Image
"Years ago I scouted a location in the Florida Keys a day before a workshop I'd be
teaching," Bill says. "When the people arrived I told them that I was sorry, I hadn't
anticipated this, but they were going to have to do some wading, and they couldn't
do it barefoot. But there was a discount shoe place near the hotel, and we'd stop
on the way so they could get cheap pairs of shoes or sneakers. And one of the
women said, 'Wow, if I'd known there was going to be shoe shopping involved, I'd
have signed up a lot sooner!'"
"It was a lesson I learned: yes, we all want to go out and take pictures, but we also
want to go somewhere and have a nice dinner, maybe visit a gallery, look at
artwork. We all want to experience more than the photography, and I think the
photography is better if we do that. The travels that Bob and I do are also about
more than photography. They're about friendship, about hanging out, having a
meal, sharing stories, talking about what we're seeing."
There are job benefits as well. Bill's experiences and images add to his Nikon
School presentations, while Bob shows retail clerks real-world photos that
demonstrate what Nikon gear is capable of.
And, in November, 2014, the Nikon Photo Gallery at Hunt's Photo & Video in
Melrose, Massachusetts, featured images from Bill and Bob's 20 years of
photography trips. "It was nice to have that little show together," Bob says. "In the
age of seeing images on screens, it was something special to see our
photographs printed, matted, framed and displayed."
We made a final note—"Photography is the framework for friendship"—and
thanked them for sharing their stories.
To see more of Bill's work, visit his website at www.billdurrence.com.
Featuring
BILL DURRENCE & BOB WATTS