AP photographer Emilio Morenatti was covering the South Africa elections by waiting at a polling place to photograph the former president arriving to cast his vote. He was equipped with the Sony Alpha 1 and Sony 50mm f/1.4 G Master when a man in a red hat waiting in line to vote caught his eye. Two traits many great photographers have in common are patience and a talent for constant observation. Great photographs tend to happen at the intersection of these skill sets.
“I had been waiting for several hours at a polling station for the arrival of the former president of South Africa, Jacob Zuma," Morenatti explains. "In the meantime, a man wearing a red hat caught my attention. I took some pictures of him while he was queuing up to vote. I followed him visually for about 10 minutes until he entered the booth to choose his candidate. I found the effect of the hat emerging from the booth interesting and shot several frames before raising the camera. The green background of the board made the red hat stand out dramatically."
He continues, "Using the articulated screen of the Sony Alpha 1, I managed to frame the shot while raising the camera as high as my arms would allow. I worked on the framing by placing each corner of the booth at the edges of the image. Then, the man raised his head for a second, allowing me to see his face. I shot seven or eight frames with this framing, and the Sony 50mm f/1.4 G Master lens did the rest of the work, thanks to its depth of field."
"At that moment, I realized that I had just achieved the image I had envisioned a few moments before in my mind.”
AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti. Sony Alpha 1. Sony 50mm f/1.4 G Master.