Unless you’ve been living under a proverbial rock in the photography world, you’ve likely heard the quote attributed to Robert Capa: “If your pictures aren't good enough, you aren't close enough.” Well, as it so happens, there’s some science behind the photojournalist great’s piece of advice.
So, you’ve clicked on this episode of Photo Forward and you’re wondering – what in the hell is “Proxemics” and what could that possibly do for growing my photography career? Let’s dive in and learn a little something about the science of personal space in photographer.
Coined way back in 1963, anthropologist Edward T Hall describe the phenomenon of Proxemics as “The interrelated observation and theories of humans use of space as a specialized elaboration of culture.” That’s a bit of word soup, so let's break down the whole system.
Essentially, when you're interacting with other folks in your normal day-to-day existence, there's four “ranges” of space between any two people (from farthest to nearest): Public distance (12 to 25 ft), Social distance (4 to 12 ft), Personal distance (1.51 to 4 ft) and (bow chicka bow wow) Intimate distance (1 in to 18 in.)
So, while we talk a lot about what lenses we mount to our cameras and what a particular focal length does to our subject matter, we don't often think about the Proxemic effect of the distance we place ourselves as the photographer. Just the same way that the proximity of me to the microphone changes the tone of the audio, the proximity of you to the subject of your photography changes the tone of your image and what it's trying to suggest. Sure, you might love the 85 mm focal length because of how it flatters the human face, but depending on the framing you might be shooting for, the Proxemic effect might be subconsciously telling your viewer something completely different entirely.
Let's do a little thought experiment here just to describe what's going on with Proxemics and photography: Let's say you get a call from a client asking you to spend some time shadowing a local business owner (How about a cobbler to keep things interesting!) And capture some lifestyle and editorial images of Chris the cobbler at work. Before you ever set foot in his shop, ideally, you're thinking critically about what you want your viewers to think and feel when they see these images in the article. Regardless of what the shop looks like or what the lighting situation might be — but keeping in mind what your editor wants and needs from a design perspective — you want to put the viewer into the appropriate Proxemic zone- photographing Chris The Cobbler in the public distance of 12 to 25 ft is going to make the viewer feel distant and emotionally disconnected. Or conversely, as friendly as this cobbler might be, there's no editor in the world that wants a photo from the intimate distance range of inside 18” away.
But, in a completely different assignment, say a dramatic portrait series focusing deeply in the emotions in gestures of the subject, you'd want to push the limits of the personal distance range around 2 ft to push the limits of your audience and what they can tolerate in their comfort zones. So, we've been diving on deep on how the proxemic distance that you choose regardless of the lens choice can make your audience feel the right emotional connection or disconnection when they see your photos. [Which, as an aside is something that the movie industry knows intricately. Take a look at the side of any cinema lens and you'll see they've got a detailed distance scale to make sure their precisely hitting their optimal subject distances, and obviously getting repeatable follow focus poles along the way.]
But back to where I was going before... Studying Proxemics for your photography is going to make a huge difference in another big way in how the individuals that your photographing feel when you are taking the photo. For example, does the subject in the frame have a strong enough level of trust to have you inside that 1 and 1/2 to 4 ft personal distance? Or by photographing in that public distance, or you confusing or alienating the individual as to why you're not engaging in that social four to 12-ft distance?
Of course, the caveat all of this is that wall these distances and Proxemics are formed from a number of auditory, haptic, and neurological cues, these distances and ranges vary by culture. So your mileage may vary depending on which state region or country you're listening to this podcast from
So, what's the action item that you can take from this episode? Well, besides being aware of the Proxemics in your photography here's a fun experiment to analyze your work... Well I would love to tell you guys that Lightroom or PhotoMechanic has a great feature to sort by subject focus distance. But, it looks like they took that feature away, honestly because of how wildly unreliable these figures got embedded into the photo exit data. Womp womp. So, my task to you on your next shoot is to lock your lens in manual focus at the crossover distance between Proxemic ranges like 18 in, 4 ft, and 12 ft and think mindfully about what crossing into one range or another does to your image, your subject, and yourself as a photographer and how you approach your world.
As much fun as creating this series in a vacuum and pushing content out into the void is… I want to hear from you guys! Are there topics or guests that you’d LOVE to get on the podcast here in 2020? Or are there some BIG NAGGING QUESTIONS you’ve got on photography or video production that you want me to cover on one of these solo episodes? Hit me up @BBrewerphoto or drop an email to podcast@photoforward.media . I want to make 2020 a much more collaborative, community-focused season of the Photo Forward Podcast and can’t wait to keep creating with you all throughout the year. So, as always — Keep seeing, keep shooting, and keep putting your best Photo Forward. LATER!
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