"The simplicity of photography lies in the fact that it is very easy to make a picture. The staggering complexity of it lies in the fact that a thousand other pictures of the same subject would have been equally easy."
John Szarkowski
Spent a few hours at Red Rock Canyon State Park the other day. It’s somewhere I have photographed a number of times. The results, except for one fall color shot, have been rather uninspired and unremarkable. So, my expectations were positive but muted. I’ve also been thinking about the trip to the Salt Plains. After the several days getting over the initial disappointment I re-reviewed them and decided that not all 300+ images were total crap. Most were okay but nothing exceptional and for sure not of the quality that I had expected while I was taking them. Taking them… – Taking Them – there it was! The crux, the predetermined result, why the images failed, why I had failed.
I had been taking pictures, not making photographs. On the Salt Plains trip I had been distracted first by the new equipment I was learning to use and second by my own lack of focus. It was these factors that had decided the quality of the images brought home. Though, I enjoyed myself merrily snapping away at anything that caught my eye there was no real effort to slow down and understand what I was trying to do and why. I was pleased to be seeing and visualizing photographs all around But and that’s a capital ‘B’ But – I did not use the time or energy or discipline to try to make worthwhile images. I jumped out of the car, zoomed around physically, mentally and with the fancy new 14X lens. Then back to the car for the next location. I was sidetracked from the essence of making a good image. I was not figuring out what it was that drew me to that spot and what it was that I want to say about that scene.
Making Photographs
Photography, at first, appears to be an isolated act, separate from you because you are photographing the world as it exist around you. You notice something and you capture it. The people or places, or objects recorded are just there — outside of your control to be caught in a frozen moment with the release of the shutter. You are chronicling facts or collecting mementos. You are taking pictures.
But, those instants when and where you chose to point your camera are controlled by your unique individual history. Understanding that you chose both on a conscious and an unconscious level to create the photographs you do is an important concept. Every time you pick up your camera your special history, as well as your present mind set guides you where to focus your attention and when to release the shutter. Learning to recognize your response to the subjects surrounding you and to establish rapport with those responses is the foundation of a successful photographic vision.
After acknowledging your perceptions the next stage is to weigh and organize your understanding so your insight can direct your photography. You construct an image and use your photographic equipment and experience to try realizing that image.
Now you are making photographs. And if your expectations begin with your commitment to expend the will and sweat to make the best image possible then you will.
"It is obviously easy to assert that life is coherent, but to work out the visual metaphor for that affirmation from within the limits of an almost ant-like perspective is hard and remarkable."
Robert Adams
John Szarkowski
Spent a few hours at Red Rock Canyon State Park the other day. It’s somewhere I have photographed a number of times. The results, except for one fall color shot, have been rather uninspired and unremarkable. So, my expectations were positive but muted. I’ve also been thinking about the trip to the Salt Plains. After the several days getting over the initial disappointment I re-reviewed them and decided that not all 300+ images were total crap. Most were okay but nothing exceptional and for sure not of the quality that I had expected while I was taking them. Taking them… – Taking Them – there it was! The crux, the predetermined result, why the images failed, why I had failed.
I had been taking pictures, not making photographs. On the Salt Plains trip I had been distracted first by the new equipment I was learning to use and second by my own lack of focus. It was these factors that had decided the quality of the images brought home. Though, I enjoyed myself merrily snapping away at anything that caught my eye there was no real effort to slow down and understand what I was trying to do and why. I was pleased to be seeing and visualizing photographs all around But and that’s a capital ‘B’ But – I did not use the time or energy or discipline to try to make worthwhile images. I jumped out of the car, zoomed around physically, mentally and with the fancy new 14X lens. Then back to the car for the next location. I was sidetracked from the essence of making a good image. I was not figuring out what it was that drew me to that spot and what it was that I want to say about that scene.
Making Photographs
Photography, at first, appears to be an isolated act, separate from you because you are photographing the world as it exist around you. You notice something and you capture it. The people or places, or objects recorded are just there — outside of your control to be caught in a frozen moment with the release of the shutter. You are chronicling facts or collecting mementos. You are taking pictures.
But, those instants when and where you chose to point your camera are controlled by your unique individual history. Understanding that you chose both on a conscious and an unconscious level to create the photographs you do is an important concept. Every time you pick up your camera your special history, as well as your present mind set guides you where to focus your attention and when to release the shutter. Learning to recognize your response to the subjects surrounding you and to establish rapport with those responses is the foundation of a successful photographic vision.
After acknowledging your perceptions the next stage is to weigh and organize your understanding so your insight can direct your photography. You construct an image and use your photographic equipment and experience to try realizing that image.
Now you are making photographs. And if your expectations begin with your commitment to expend the will and sweat to make the best image possible then you will.
"It is obviously easy to assert that life is coherent, but to work out the visual metaphor for that affirmation from within the limits of an almost ant-like perspective is hard and remarkable."
Robert Adams
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