INNERVIEW: the black man armed with a camera
Photo: Jordan D. Alexandre
Hello, my name is Jordan D. Alexandre, and this is InnerView.
A series where I spend time with artists and take an introspective look into their process and work with an unintrusive twist. I don't ask any questions, I just let them work and record my thoughts.
Today we have: The Blackman Armed with a Camera.
Photo: Jordan D. Alexandre
The day was overcast. Clouds holding back the rain as if they were waiting for the right moment to show a shower. Making the crowds disperse that were building due to Domingo. An event that was happening in the streets of Hartford that Sunday. I was armed with a digital and film camera but decided to stow away the film for another day. I only had a few shots left on it and no extra roll to reload. I swung around a side street, found a decent parking spot, and waited for the man only armed with a camera to develop into my view.
A few minutes go by and the first photo of the day was taken by the Universally given lense.
He had come into frame: The Black Man Armed With A Camera
We made our way around Hartford’s downtown. One of my first observations was how fast this man was on the trigger of his miniature Minolta. Something I noticed was that he is always scanning, framing, and composing before any shutter stuttered a sound.
Taking the shot before the shot was taken.
He was almost being led by some mystical or ethereal forces conducting the clues of the photo’s composition; A detective that has to find clues laid out by a force unseen in order to tell this man armed with only a camera where his next subject lies.
Photo: Jordan D. Alexandre
During the afternoon of shooting and studying his work in action. I noticed just how run and gun this man is. It’s quick candid shots he was hunting that Sunday. Only standing for a moment to capture the moment and then on to the next. Due to this, I noticed something about candid photography:
The moment that you are trying to capture is always fleeting.
The time allotted to take the shot is only enough to quick-draw the camera and push the shutter. There’s no time to adjust settings or scene if you wish to get the shot. There’s only enough time to take it with your eyes, or quick draw and hope to get a bullseye.
The moment to take a memory only exists within the moment and after its passing, it’s gone in that form, forever.
But when you have this hunk of plastic and metal in your hand are effectively holding a time machine. One that allows you to take a piece of that moment with you; one that allows you to carry memories from times past. And I find it fitting that in order to capture those time-traveling mementos candidly. You would have to be in the moment as well.
Even if it is for the second of a shutter snap.
Photo: Jordan D. Alexandre
During the course of this InnerView with The Black Man Armed With A Camera, I saw just how in tune you have to be with your intuition if you want to capture the moment that you too are experiencing. You may need to be possessed by the spirit of the camera that you’re armed with. Having it be an extension of your eye and not another obstacle, but an opportunity to take a talisman of time. Granting you the ability to do something that seems, supernatural. A way to hold a memory in place permanently. Whether stored in a gallery or gallows.
During the course of this InnerView, The Black Man Armed With A Camera taught me this:
The key, when armed with a camera is to be in the same moment that you wish to take a memento from.
To have your eyes always on the search for the next shutter snap. But to also not let that take away from the moment you’re having when you look back.
All of which is to say,
To not just be the person taking the photograph,
But be the person in the bigger picture too.