Chapter 80: Capturing Vitality

Every photographer has their own style and characteristics, and Bruce is best at capturing emotions/feelings.

He strives to capture the emotions within the subject of the photograph, honestly expressing elements of personality. Through the lens, he is always able to capture those fleeting subtle emotional fluctuations, which he considers to be the most precious qualities of a person, and also the way photography gives time a different meaning.

This is also the reason why "GQ" sought Bruce's help to fill the gap, even though they knew that Bruce had already completed two suit themes in a row.

If someone can capture different qualities and colors under the same suit theme, then Bruce is undoubtedly the best choice.

Bruce captured Anson's nervousness at the first moment.

But Anson gave an unexpected answer.

"No, I'm not nervous. I'm just... stiff."

Thinking about it carefully, this sentence was not wrong.

The corners of Bruce's mouth twitched slightly, but the smile failed to show. He shook his head in denial, "You care too much about the camera."

Anson didn't understand, "I thought I should look at the camera when taking pictures."

This involves a psychological concept, the fourth wall.

When watching a stage play, the left and right sides of the stage and the back curtain form the three walls of the entire space, and the remaining direction is the audience.

Therefore, the fourth wall is an invisible wall assumed between the stage and the audience, and this transparent wall isolates the audience and the actors.

If the actors are aware of the existence of the fourth wall, they can concentrate on performing and ignore the existence of the audience.

If the audience ignores the existence of the fourth wall, they can immerse themselves in the performance and ignore other influencing factors.

It is precisely because of this that in TV and movie shooting, the actor's eyes need to avoid the camera as much as possible to avoid breaking the fourth wall and destroying the sense of immersion, unless it is carefully designed by the director to use

But flat shooting is different.

The model needs to look directly at the camera, break the fourth wall with their eyes, communicate with the audience, and complete the transmission of emotions. This is a very important action.

Although it was the first time for Anson to be both an actor and a model, he still understood the basic theory and didn't make simple basic mistakes.

So where was the problem?

Was there something wrong with the way to open it?

Bruce didn't respond.

He knew that Anson was right, flat shooting did require communication with the camera. Although body language also accounted for an important proportion, the power of the eyes could not be ignored. Just like the finishing touch, the eyes were always needed in the end.

However, paying too much attention to the camera led to stiff body and expressions, which not only destroyed the overall balance, but also completely failed to capture Anson's charm and temperament, and even the smile at the corner of his mouth did not reach the depths of his eyes.

The work shot in this way has no vitality.

So, how to grasp the balance?

This was a topic for the model, and it also required the photographer's guidance. The words had already come to his lips, but Bruce noticed a detail--

At this moment.

It was this moment in front of him.

When the shooting stopped, there was no flash, no shutter, and Anson was out of the shooting state. The moment he opened his mouth to respond, his expression returned, as if black and white turned into color, and the vivid and bright Anson broke free from the shackles of paper and came alive.

It was so magical.

Bruce swallowed the words abruptly, neither responding nor paying attention. His right index finger pressed the shutter again, capturing the moment in front of him.

Click!

The air was silent.

Anson: ???

The shutter and flash interrupted Anson's question. He was completely caught off guard and looked at Bruce with a bewildered face, "What are you doing?"

Bruce had an idea. 

Chapter 80: Capturing Vitality

"Ignore me, don't pay attention to the camera, treat this space in front of you as a playground, move, don't stand still or pose, move according to your own ideas, release yourself, leave the rest to me." 

Anson realized at this time that he still lacked experience. Was Bruce asking him to go crazy in the studio?

But Bruce didn't give Anson time to think, waving his hands to signal, "Move, don't be restrained, need music? You can dance by yourself." 

Anson looked down at his look--

Suit.

This was a suit, not sportswear, how should he move?

Moreover, unlike the usual casual suits, this suit was very slim-fitting, from the shoulders to the elbows to the waist, he could feel the restraint everywhere.

With a little effort, he felt like the clothes were about to tear, how should he move?

All the questions since he crossed over didn't even add up to half of what he had at this moment.

Subconsciously, Anson looked at Gretel, gestured up and down at his own look, and asked with his eyes, "Are you sure?"

Bruce noticed it immediately, and didn't give Gretel a chance to respond at all, "Move, don't worry about other things, just move."

It felt a little strange.

Anson had an illusion, as if he accidentally broke into a fitness classroom, and before he had time to figure out whether it was spinning or aerobics, the coach started to lead like a chicken blood.

Involuntarily, Anson started to move--

But how should he move?

Street dance?

He didn't know how.

The more he thought about it, the more absurd it became, the more he thought about it, the more funny it became. The whole situation was full of humor, but Anson finally moved, letting go and swaying.

Yes, swaying.

Swaying like a six-year-old child wearing his father's suit, pretending to be in the conference room, making decisions on major work, swaying without purpose or direction.

In his previous life, Anson was frail and sick when he was a child. He would have a fever if he got a little rain, a cold if he got a little wind, and vomiting and diarrhea if he ate something wrong. His parents were worried about his health and once sent him to learn martial arts to strengthen his body. It was not Shaolin Kung Fu, but military boxing, fighting, and so on.

Whether it was Kung Fu or not, Anson had not tested it, but his body did gradually become stronger; moreover, he really learned how to use his body.

Anson didn't expect that those things could actually be used now. Although the close-fitting suit was still awkward, his movements did become active.

So, did this fall into the category of "playing and completing work and making money by the way"?

Click. Click. Click.

Bruce was recording.

In his hand, of course, was a film camera. Professional photographers would not and could not use digital cameras whose technology was not yet fully mature.

Therefore, Bruce had no way to immediately view his photos on the computer, but he had eyes--

Observe with eyes, feel with intuition.

Having been a professional photographer for five or six years, Bruce was best at capturing those vitality.

In Bruce's own words, it was vitality.

So he liked to photograph life.

Such as animals. Such as humans.

Use film to record the moment when life blooms, whether it is sadness or happiness, loss or joy, even nothingness can be frozen.

At this time, Bruce was observing.

The situation did improve, much better than the fixed-point styling just now.

Anson should move, not be frozen in place like a statue.

But not enough.

Far from enough.

First update.