Control doesn't really factor in for me. What are you in control of? Your camera's mechanics? Your environment? Perhaps you are controlling the image settings if you use a digital camera? Control is moot, aside from setting the shutter/aperture, the only thing I -need- to control is where I point my lens and when I hit the shutter, everything else happens around me.
I work almost completely on the street, a chaotic environment, yet I am very in control of what I am doing. The mode of operation depends on the camera I happen to be using, if its my F3 or F4, it's most likely aperture priority automation, whereas with my Bronica ETRS, rolleiflex, rangefinders, and nikkormat ft2 it's all just by my evaluation of a scene.
I consider my studio work to be on par with anything else I do, it's the same set of eyes, the same brain, and the same hands on the tool used to capture it. In this case, I control everything except my subject, for the most part.
Due to the fact I use film pretty much exclusively, the only thing image-wise I worry about before getting into my darkroom is my ASA rating, which I set once, and leave alone for the rest of the roll.
I guess I just don't worry about the other things, I'm usually too focused on looking for my next picture to waste time trying to 'control' things. What's the point in setting up a scene if I could just go out and find a more interesting real one?
If I come off as a jerk in this post, I apologize, it's just that for me, I don't really have "modes" on my cameras, past aperture priority and manual(I pretty much never use S or P on my F4). In addition to that, I only really use manual focus lenses for the most part, aside from my 180, 50, and 18-35, generally only carrying a 35 and my 85 or 105.
the situation determines the amount of control you are able to exercise, it's your job to work around that as a photographer and adapt to your environment. I personally feel more in control out in city streets than I do with a static landscape, but thats just me.
Thanks for the welcome back everyone, by the way, I appreciate it :), college is a real pain.
