Fotograf Magazine

Unlike a tripod, man has only two feet. And even a photographer, being human, must make do with those. The photographer operates in a regime of relative corporeal stability, unless they are sick, for example, or under the influence of drugs, meaning that they should be able to balance on two feet, with the help of the fine balancing of the vertically-oriented torso, stabilizing one’s center of gravity within space. Naturally – a photographer moves; kneeling down, bending, tilting and swinging, taking sidesteps, stretching out etc., in order to freeze in the seconds just before pressing the shutter, both body and camera rest. And if a photographer, like a sharpshooter taking aim (E. J. Marey), also checks their breathing, they may thus imitate the stability of a tripod to some degree. It is easier for the tripod – it does not move at all, with its axis running directly through its center of gravity, effortlessly oriented towards the center of the Earth. The camera, however, is far more sensitive than the human eye, instantly exposing the deception of a missing third foot.