Francesco Jodice, Crossing. http://www.mep-fr.org/evenement/francesco-jodice/ \"Crossing\"

Francesco Jodice, Crossing.

http://www.mep-fr.org/evenement/francesco-jodice/

"Crossing" is a series of life-size photographs with the subject matter being ordinary people walking towards the photographer. (Fotografiaitaliana, 2013) They do not have prior knowledge they are being photographed. They were taken randomly in the streets of Paris and arranged next to each other to restore continuity between the subjects and the space they are in. The photographer, Francesco Jodice, uses a variety of techniques that not only help him catch the moments, but also keep himself from attracting attention while he takes the picture. This kind of photography is called street photography and uses of the moment scenarios that occur organically without the need to plan ahead in terms of set design. However, one does need to plan ahead what one wants to shoot.

It was clear Jodice wanted to gather enough pictures of people who were not aware they were being photographed. He achieved this by shooting from a distance and keeping the camera focused on fixed focal distance while shooting from a distance. This technique is called zone focusing. Autofocus must be disabled. This eliminates focusing altogether. Hyperfocal or zone focusing means having everything in focus beyond a certain point.

Zone focusing requires the lens to have a comprehensive depth of field scale in order to accurately set focus distance. Manual focus lenses are preferred. The desired subject distances need to fall between the two aperture markings on opposite ends of the depth of field scale. The photographer must be good at estimating distances; picking a subject, and setting distance on the lens. Improving the skill needed for this technique means an increased ability to focus the camera, maintain it ready while at waist level, before framing up the shot. This technique amongst others is generally used in street photography.

Street photography was huge when it came to making Paris known throughout the world. (Jensen, 2005, p. 35) it is where the "father of street photography," Eugene Atget took pictures of the cityscape, the architecture of the city, as well as the design within the buildings to allow people of the world to witness the beauty of Paris. A host of other street photographers got their start photographing Paris. These are, to name a few, John Thomson and Henri Cartier-Bresson. (Scott, 2007, p. 12)

Continuing the examination of techniques used by Jodice, he also uses various shots and aligns them together to achieve not only a wide angle shot, but also an unnatural scenario in a natural aesthetic. He manages to contribute color as a way to tie in some of the people as well as using pictures of people standing a certain angles and then combining them with others that are similar to make it appear as though they are both standing symmetrical from each other. Jodice's work allows for people to experienced a "stylized" street normative culture without the unnecessary background that consists of most city streets, especially city streets as busy as Paris or New York. The best section of the photo is the section with the couple holding hands and the man superimposed next to them.

The man next to the couple appears as though he wants to hold hands with them. The couples matching red pants and shirt, match with the red shirt of the man behind. There is even a red number "25" next to the man next to the couple. Using red and the and holding to connect all but one of the subjects in the photographs allows for unity within the piece as well as uniformity.

Involuntarily characters that consist of a lot of Jodice's work in street photography, pose the question of identity. It also begs to ponder the sense of belonging to the space they cross as well as the people they interact with. The photograph(s), in the work of Francesco Jodice is/are a constantly active witness as well as a living and functional instrument, "a tool that turns vision expands and focuses on the individual, from micro to macrocosm. Keen observer of human movements, Francesco Jodice provides an atlas of behavior penetrates the spirit of the place." (European House of Photography, 2006)

The technique of timing and anticipation is the most important technique for Jodice with this picture because of his desire to keep the focus on one fixed point. He had to wait for the right time to capture the subjects as well as figure out ahead of time which ons to wait for. Perhaps in his thinking he sought to search for people with similar colored tops. The extended version of the "crossing" pictures shows a woman with a dark blue tank top similar to the "25" man. And the man in white is far off to the end distanced from everyone else.

In photographic situations such as in the photo, where one has minimal to no control or influence of any of the elements in the frame besides the composition and exposure, timing hands down is the one thing the photographer has in control. In order to get the timing right, the photographer must visualize as well as estimate the potential for a desired frame. Imagining what frames would be put together to achieve the desired picture also allows for a better overall photograph. In order to get an idea of what to photograph, especially as applied to timing, must already be outlined in the mind prior to taking the pictures. Therefore, being in place, waiting for those elements to all come together and anticipating a desired scenario allows for a smoother ability to capture desired frames.

As mentioned previously, shooting with a wider lense can be beneficial and is one of the techniques used in the "Crossing" photograph. There are many benefits to shooing with a wide angled lens. Firstly, is the enhanced foreground perspective emphasis wide angled lenses provide. Wide angled lenses also allows for higher percentage of focusing errors without damaging the effect of the photo. It extends depth of field without needing to be at a low angle.