Eight things worth being able to do

What They
Teach

The bench on /eyes says who to learn from. The capsules on /trips say where to go. These are the eight things in between — six properties of a frame and two ways of working, each with the light it wants and a day that practices it. Five of them argue with how I already see. That is deliberate.

  1. Frontalitya property of the frame

    Square-on, same distance, no favorites — including the dull ones.

    AfterEd Ruscha · Lewis Baltz · Bernd & Hilla Becher
    WantsFlat and frontal. Nothing to wait for — the evenness is the point, and an overcast sky supplies it outright.

    I gave the boring wall the same care as the good one.

    Go and do itFrom the Road OnlySomebody Lived HereThe Basin Line
  2. Let It Go Blacka property of the frame

    Expose for the light and let everything else fall to nothing.

    AfterRay Metzker
    WantsHard contrast — a bright opening seen from deep shade.

    I let most of the frame go, instead of rescuing it.

    Go and do itTen Minutes on FootThe Far Wall Lights FirstThe Headland Is HollowThe Hill at Both Ends
  3. Mundanea property of the frame

    Flat, vacant, ordinary — chosen, not failed.

    AfterLewis Baltz · Grant Mudford
    WantsFlat overcast. The light that ruins everything else is the correct light here.

    I shot the empty thing on purpose, not because nothing better turned up.

    Go and do itNo One In ItNot a RuinNothing Was Built Here
  4. Negative Spacea property of the frame

    Give two-thirds of the frame to nothing, and let the nothing carry it.

    AfterLucien Hervé · Grant Mudford
    WantsOpen sky, high key. Anything that keeps the empty part clean.

    I let the empty part do the work, not the subject.

    Go and do itAbove the BasinCoast RoadNothing Behind It for MilesSteel and a Pink Wall
  5. Diagonala property of the frame

    Let the tilt be the subject, not the thing that happens to be tilted.

    AfterCatherine Opie · Lucien Hervé
    WantsLow raking side light, which is what gives an angle its edge.

    I shot the angle, not the object it happens to be.

    Go and do itThere It Is, Take It
  6. Intervala property of the frame

    Shoot the gap, not the thing either side of it.

    AfterLucien Hervé · Julius Shulman
    WantsLow sun that separates one repeat from the next.

    I came back with the interval rather than the span.

    Go and do itBuilt to Let the Light InHarbor and HeadlandThe Arch, the Towers and the TownThe ArroyoTwo Ranks and a Crown
  7. Seriesa way of working

    Shoot the set, not the hero. One frame proves nothing.

    AfterLewis Baltz · Ed Ruscha
    WantsAny — but the same light for all of them, or it is not a set.

    I came back with twenty, and no favorite among them.

    Go and do itEvery Building on the StripFour in the DesertThe New Industrial Parks
  8. Exhaust Onea way of working

    Work one place past the first good frame, until it gives something up.

    AfterJoel Meyerowitz · David Hockney
    WantsAny, twice. The point is returning, not the hour.

    I stayed after I had the shot, and the later one was better.

    Go and do itForty Years on One HeadlandThe Long Straight