Monika May Romantic Fever 2: Let the Camera Keep Rolling
Monika May Romantic Fever 2: Let the Camera Keep Rolling Backstage
Monika May Romantic Fever 2 gave me a familiar feeling and a new problem: how was I supposed to keep my attention on the camera when Monika was showing me just how much she could do in motion?
This is the video version of Romantic Fever 1. The title already has a little history, but a video asks for something different. A photograph gives you one moment. Here, you get to see what Monika does on the way to that moment, and what she does after it.
As a photographer, I’m used to looking for the instant I want to keep. It’s almost a reflex. I see something working and my brain says, There. That’s the frame.
With Monika, that reflex was not much help. She kept giving the camera something to follow. If I had tried to pick one perfect frame and call my job finished, I would have missed the pleasure of watching her work.
A difficult problem, I know. Please try to feel sorry for me. :)
What impressed me was how fully she brought herself to the video. Monika has skills, and Romantic Fever 2 gives those skills room to come through. I don’t mean that she was simply doing more for the sake of doing more. She understood that the camera was staying with her. For me, that makes all the difference.
I like a beautiful still image as much as anyone, especially when I’m the one holding the camera. But there is a particular excitement in letting a moment continue. You begin to notice the choices a performer makes from one beat to the next. The feeling has time to build, and the person in front of the lens has time to make it her own.
That is what I enjoyed about seeing Monika in this format. There was no need for me to imagine what might happen between the photographs. I could watch her carry the feeling herself. She made the video sensual without needing me to explain every second of it, which is fortunate, because I would rather show you than deliver a lecture. I suspect Monika would agree.
And yes, I was paying attention. Professionally, of course. Mostly. :)
The connection to Romantic Fever 1 made this especially fun for me. I knew the name, but I still wanted to see what Monika could bring to it when the camera kept rolling. She answered that question much better than I could have answered it for her.
By the end, I was left with the thought that some performances are best allowed to continue past the moment when I would usually press the shutter. Monika May gave Romantic Fever 2 that extra life. I was happy to stay behind the camera and let her show me why.
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