Photo Submission by Peter Caine on Apr 25, 2012 - 22:04
Peter Caine
About the Shot
Nuns Walk in the Beguinage BRUGES, Belgium. This was the location for the Audrey Hepburn film The Nun Story, no other picture has ever revealed the atmosphere of the time. Today it would be impossible to freeze this moment. My best picture as i waited for the last nun to walk in the viewfinder's frame, full frame b.w 35mm Minolta R7 35mm/lens-200 ASA 1/30 at 2.8- It was a late afternoon very cloudy day.
I was composing the picture to create a Buffet painting effect with the tree's branches then I saw the nuns on my left and I waited for the "decisive moment"; without knowing Cartier Bresson, as a young photographer, I always walked with my camera (no motor) and b/w film ready to freeze the image full frame instantly sometimes in a split of a second before the subject could be aware of my presence. It is the only way to be a "documentary" photographer. As I did not have a meter I was always changing the speed but keeping the camera set at 5.6 or less and adjusting the speed to compensate for the exposure. I lost my gift of mental exposure when I bought my first lightmeter!

