Views
“It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.” — Henry David Thoreau
If you’re interested in reading some practical tips about becoming a photographer, see my Photography Tips page.
My views about photography are pretty much encapsulated in the following quotations:
“You don’t take a photograph, you make it.” – Ansel Adams
“Someone once told Picasso that he ought to make pictures of things the way they are–objective pictures. When Picasso said he did not understand, the man produced a picture of his wife from his wallet and said, ‘There, you see, that is a picture of how she really is.’ Picasso looked at it and said, ‘She’s rather small, isn’t she? And flat?’” — Jack Kornfield
If you label me, you negate me
I hate being labeled as any particular type of photographer, but I find that I am much less interested in macro, portraiture, wildlife, and flash photography than I am in low light and long exposures, architecture, landscapes, and candid moments of people taken in natural light. I’ve nothing against those other types of photos, but they just don’t appeal to me that much as general areas where I would like to focus my creative energies.
My philosophy
“The single most important component of a camera is the twelve inches behind it.” – Ansel Adams
I love deep rich colors. I love simple lines. I like unusual perspectives on the familiar. To me, photography is about light and color and composition, and there aren’t any real prescriptive rules about what subject you should shoot or what methods are “proper” to use to get the effect you want. I have no problem with spending 5 days processing a multiple exposure photo or 5 minutes processing a single shot, so long as the shot pleases my eye in some way. My only rule is “whatever works,” and whatever pleases my eye rules.
Why I don’t care that much about photo equipment
“Gear has very little to do with photography.” – Chase Jarvis
I like quality gear that gets out of the way and lets me take photos. However, I’m definitely of the mind that photographic gear and technology are the least interesting parts of the photographic process, and discussions about gadgets and gear or about software or darkroom processing or about “Nikon vs. Canon” etc grow tiresome very quickly — too many people get religious about this stuff, and I am about as far from religious as I can be.
It’s the person behind the camera, and not the camera itself or the software processing that makes the shot. The person’s vision of what the photo should be is all that really matters. Some of my own shots that have pleased me the most were shot with a point-and-shoot. And my digital SLR has certainly captured its share of stinkers.
It doesn’t matter what camera you have with you, just get out there and shoot anything and everything. Revel in experimentation and don’t let anyone’s religion (the Church of Canon or HDR or Black & White) keep you from pursuing what you feel passionate and creative about.
And if you need to be inspired to get off the couch and get out there and shoot, I can’t recommend Stephen Pressfield’s The War of Art highly enough. Here’s the Amazon.com link:
The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles
(Note: Purchasing through this link helps to support my photography!)