Six feet. This distance has marked off the height a man surpasses when he starts to be considered tall, and how far down that same man will be buried some day. But in this time of Covid, the first thing that comes to my mind when I hear “six feet” is marks on the floor indicating the minimum “safe” distance between people to effectively reduce risk of exposure. For months now I am seldom any closer to another person than six feet. Hugs and handshakes are not part of my social connection. My body is slowly getting familiar with what a six-foot separation feels like, and what someone breaks that invisible boundary.
My immediate neighborhood is hilly and wooded. This is a lovely environment, but it poses some challenges when I go out to take pictures. I’ve noticed that I like to take pictures that look off in the distance. Looking off in the distance isn’t easy when you are surrounded by hills and trees.
In spring, summer, the yellows, green, and reds of the trees’ leaves provide softness and color to forest scenes. As we move into late fall with the leaves gone it is easier for me to see off in the distance, but all I see is brown and branches.
This isn’t intended as a complaint, but an observation of what is. This brown and branchy scene is what I’m going to face with my camera.
The other day I thought about both the six-foot distance, and my photographic relationship to the woods. With those two thoughts in mind, I’ve decided on a little experiment. What kind of pictures would I capture if I used the six-foot distance in the woods. What do I see if I focus just on what is six feet in front of me.
I went out today with this limit in mind. I also decided to stick with a 50mm prime lens so I didn’t have the option of using a zoom and playing around with focal lengths.
The first thing I noticed is that I’m immediately drawn to taking pictures of tree trunks with some interesting character in their bark or shape. I also recognized that this kind of photography felt a bit like portrait photography – where I’m usually just focusing on one central subject, and rarely getting the whole subject in the frame. I really had to work to pay attention to scenes that were not at eye level.
I look forward to trying this approach in different situations and locations. I think the photographs do share some the same sense of separation that I encounter with others.
