David approaches photography from the perspective of an artist, whereas Ansel Adams approaches photography from the point of view of a craftsman. His trilogy Camera, Negative and Print is an amazing testimony to his technical approach. The more technical approach has been replicated by many photographers who take the time to write about their process, while David`s approach remains pretty unique. At the heart of his criticism lies Hockney`s conviction that a single shot image can never be sufficiently engaging, because it does not invite the viewer to let eye and mind roam in the image. To overcome this limitation he used the camera like a brush, in fact he initially referred to his joiners as photo drawings. In doing so every single image of a joiner becomes a brush stroke.

Unfortunately David`s wonderful idea never really gained much traction or popularity. I attribute this to the simple fact that creating a joiner takes work, time and consideration, all in all an effort most photographers shy away from.  I also observed that the aesthetics of the joiner collides with the rather rigid conviction held by many that only a single still image counts a true photo. So many simply cannot let go of the implied documentary quality attributed to photography. The latter will soon be changed by AI.  I however had fun learning about it and trying my hands at it. 

The purpose of this post is to share some of my experiences with joiners. Here I will limit myself to three aspects: perspective, story telling and design.

Before jumping into these the topics I would like to point out that since the introduction of the joiner technology has evolved. Here are two links, one a blog the other a video, both dedicated to the creation of joiners using todays technology: Paul Skidmore and Will Goertzel.

Perspective

We live in a four dimensional world and accordingly I use perspective to refer to location and time of view point. The single shot image is limited to capturing or freezing an instant from one view point at one point in time, using central perspective. The viewer in return is able to grasp the image in a single instant. This is in stark contrast to our real-life viewing habits. When confronted with a larger scene, not just the screen on the IPhone, we tend to move our eyes, head and body to take it all in. The grey matter then joins it all up into a single experience. The joiner allows us to replicate this viewing process with photos.

Below a joiner of a cramped coffee shop on the upper east side in Manhattan.  I moved along the counter and took images always pointing the camera directly at a part of the scene. As a consequence nothing is peripheral, everything is shown as if we are looking straight at it.  This is in stark contrast to a single shot image. In a cramped space like this a single shot would have resorted to a super wide angle with significant distortions relegating most of the scene to the periphery.

The next example below shows the center of the old town in Santa Fe. Again I moved along the square and lined up the views and again everything is shown as if it is in the center of our field of vision, nothing is peripheral.

Finally, when talking perspective, there is the well known cubist idea of multiple perspectives, which always makes for an engaging portrait because the eye and mind cannot fully decipher it all with a single glance. This last one has a funny story to it. When I posted it on a social media page dedicated to portrait photography it was almost immediately taken down by some digital overlord in charge of the group. His argument, this is not portrait photography. Ironically Man Rays double and multi exposures would surely be considered photography, which makes no sense to me. If you place photos on top of each other its photography, but if you place the next to each other its not? This just confirmed my suspicion that photographers are a little sensitive and defensive when you start playing around with their medium. Ironically David Hockney had the same experience when he gave a talk on photography to a packed audience in London. None of the photographers present were willing to engage with him.

Story telling

Many times photographers, in particular documentary and street photographers, like to emphasize the need for the single shot to tell a story. It is not impossible but its hard, in particular when the photo is not staged.  For the joiner the telling of a story is second nature. The photographer moves about, the movement is reflected in the different perspectives and time elapsed. In this regards it is much easier for a joiner to tell a story and the viewer`s eye and mind are naturally engaged when relating the components to form a whole.

Below an example of grand central station. I moved on the first floor balcony and captured all that was directly opposite to me, only at the endpoints of my walk did I capture the left and right hand side of this huge space.

Again, my NY barista. This time, the objective was to show him multiple times in the same image, while he was at work. Here I did not move with the barista but turned my head, which is effectively an artificial wide angle and you can clearly see how the sides become periphery. The perception of space is now very different. The first version above convincingly conveyed the cramped nature of the small cafe, but the distortion creates the illusion of ample space.

Design

Photographs are usually realized in rectangles. Cropping an image can extend the range of shapes to squares and circles but that is about it.  The joiner, like any collage, has a design element which allows for more varied and deliberate designs. 

The example below shows Alexander Calder`s “Flamingo” sculpture from 1974 at federal plaza in Chicago`s downtown.  The design was inspired by the stacked shape of a folding fan. This creates a dynamic suggesting a movement such as a Flamingo reaching or stepping forward.

Another example, a portrait of the author, Jelle Peters, a neighbour of mine during my NY days. On a pleasent day he had the habit of grabbing two chairs in Bryant Park NY, to make himself comfortable where he spent the morning hours writing. The layout here is intended to emphasize his bodies comfortable position.

This is it. For now!