I'm John Stanmeier. I'm one of the founding members of the 7 Photo Agency.
The topic chance is so broad because everything to me is chance.
I took it as being, well, what's going to happen to me over a period of time?
What am I going to witness over this X period of time?
And I actually chose it as a day. I wanted to do it all in one day.
Just what naturally, uniquely, humanly passed before me.
I was in a wonderful city like Washington DC,
layered in beautiful architecture and monuments and events.
And I chanced upon what I came upon.
A statue of soldiers next to the Vietnam War Memorial.
The lighting was beautiful. The American flag was furrowing in all of its brilliance in the winter wind.
That's the Vietnam War Memorial. And a veteran came up with his dog
to pay respects to those who had given up their lives.
And again, just a very simple moment, but a little different way of looking at the wall
and life that passes by chance in front of the Vietnam War Memorial.
A shadowed person with a fantastic looking hat on and people mulling about.
And again, great light.
This time of year, of course, is spectacular in wintertime where the sun is sort of always
at a three o'clock perfect lighting situation.
I think all photographers love shadows and layers.
And I just thought it was very, very classic, eloquent Washington, big city DC.
You know, seeing people wandering and going about their daily lives.
I'm a fast glass, high ISO person.
So, you know, I'm definitely not a flash user.
I'm not very good at it.
So to me, there's brilliant light everywhere, everywhere.
Even sometimes the most garish light, it can be interesting.
When I do see pictures with flash, it almost looks manipulative to me.
It's artificial.
I don't walk around, you know, and look at you or look at anybody with blasting light on their face.
And so, therefore, the lighting is just brilliant no matter what it is.
I don't think about what my style is.
That's for someone else's interpretation of it.
But in the world of reality, when you're dealing, you know, with issues of people who can't afford, you know,
food, let alone shelter, or health concerns, or natural disasters, conflicts, there's no such thing.
The style doesn't play a role in that at all.
The people are doing everything.
I'm being welcomed into their world.
I'm being graciously accepted to witness their human history.
And so it's them that have all the style.
I'm just there recording it.
I'm not an extreme wide-angle user, but this is, I think, a 28-millimeter camera.
And that's pretty wide, you know.
It's fantastic.
Yeah, I see you perfectly.
And I just took a picture of you.
And I didn't have to think about it.
And then I lied.
I'm not a technical person whatsoever.
I do everything on all Canon cameras in AV mode, in aperture priority mode.
I really don't care about the mechanics or even overanalyzing my thought processes.
Don't be hindered by the technology.
Don't be weighted by this thing that we call a camera.
It's try to the best of your ability to make it an extension of yourself,
or an extension of your arm, extension of your mind, you know, of your eye.
It's just a tool.
And don't overcomplicate it.
Things naturally do fall into place.
Because if you just stop and listen and look and feel,
you'll be amazed by how naturally everything plays out right before you.
