Creating Photographs From the Heart

Still on my break from blogging but here is a re-post from 2013. It is about the connection a great photograph has with a great musical score. Please enjoy again, Creating Photographs From the Heart.

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A number of years had passed since I last watched that movie, but recently I sat through another viewing and remembered it being as entertaining and revealing as the first time. Some of you may have seen it...Mr. Holland's Opus...a story about a musician who temporarily falls back on his teaching degree until he can start composing his great American Symphony full time. He ends up teaching for 30 years and during that time is transformed and changes the lives of hundreds of students. One of those students was a young lady who struggled with learning how to play the clarinet...hard as she tried...she just could not grasp what it took to master that instrument. Then one day Mr. Holland asked her what she liked best about herself when she looked into a mirror...her answer was her bright red hair as it reminded her dad of the sunset. Mr. Holland then told her to play the sunset...and removed the sheet music that had become the crutch that held her back. Within moments, her playing was transformed into something that can only come from the heart.

Too often I fail to capture the photographs I feel in my heart...probably because I too rely too much on crutches that actually hold me back more than help. Oddly enough, I discovered almost by accident what makes a great photo...and it's probably not what you might think. The crutches we use result from too much worrying about the mechanics of the camera and not thinking enough about why we are there...what are we looking for...what is it inside of us we know is there...but struggle to give it meaning...to give it a voice.

You see, photography is so much like music, yet we too often fail to recognize it. Photograph the music in your heart...might be somewhat of an unorthodox way of approaching the craft...but thinking in those terms just might be the catalyst that propels your photography to a new level. Light is the mood generating notes of photography...but music becomes the melody of that light...and all photographic moments carry with it a silent musical score photographers can feel from within.

Each photographic moment carries with it a different melody...unique in strength and power. You know it when you see it...because you don't really see it visually...you experience it internally. A photographic moment that sings or fills the air with symphonic crescendo's...will in due course generate a photograph that carries a sense of orchestration...a place where the mood and atmosphere comes from.

Photography, if you stop and think about it, does closely parallel the mood generating effects of a great musical score. Tapping into that power and searching for light that is filled with a great performance...well...you'll know it when it happens...you just have to give the silent music from within a visual voice.

Keith

Camera's Do...Photographers Dream

Taking a break for the next several weeks from blogging, but I will repost older blogs to fill in the gap. Here's one from January 2014. It's a short article about the difference between simply taking pictures of things and using your imagination and vision to create amazing photographs.

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The sophistication built into cameras today is quite phenomenal when compared to what was available even just a few years ago. But cameras by themselves do not take photographs they simply do as they are told. It is the visual dreams of the photographer that creates the magic of a great photograph.

I’ve been asked a few times more often than not, questions focused around learning the technical aspects of how to use the camera. Understanding the technical elements is important, but it is not all important. As in most things, you can teach technique, but you cannot teach someone how to dream.

When I speak of visual dreams I am referencing how the photographer imagines the world. It is more emotional than technical. When photographer’s tap into what stirs their imagination and then applies that emotional connection to the world around them, their photographic artistry is magically influenced by those visions.

Seeing the world from an emotional point of view can alter your visual perspective about photography. If all you ever achieve is capturing images of things, then you tend to rely on the intrinsic values of the thing to create your photograph. But when you rely on visualizing the world based on what stirs your emotions, your photography elevates to a higher plane of understanding.

Mechanics can only take you so far, but creative dreams are endless. It is the photographer who taps into that creative desire, who allows himself to focus emotional energy, that will capture amazing images of ordinary things. If all we do is look at objects and photograph objects, we limit ourselves to settle for what that object represents. But when we look beyond the object and see it within the context of our desires to create something beautiful, then something beautiful happens.

The Simple Landscape

Simplicity in photography creates images that flow like a soft melody and sometimes simplicity itself becomes the defining elements within a landscape. Landscapes by their very nature can be as complex or simple as nature itself. There are times the scene is filled with an abundance of details all working together to create an amazing view. Yet, there are times when simplicity becomes the defining purpose of the image. Of the two, the simple landscape can often be the most difficult to find and capture.

Creating the Simple Landscape requires one important adjustment; Finding a location where all the clutter is naturally removed. This is not always easy to do and often requires that we employ creative compositional discovery techniques. In most cases it is a matter of seeing, looking beyond the ordinary to focus in on form along with the purest of light.

Light of course is always the main element in every great photograph, but without a great subject, light is simply light. Your job as a photographer is to combine the two into a creative form. For me, to create the Simple Landscape requires warm, low angle light. Late afternoon light when the shadows are long and the nature of the light takes on a natural glowing aura is the best time, but any time of day can be used and under certain circumstances even shooting in the middle of the day works well.

Look for those simple striking compositional elements where only a few pieces are present. Avoid overly complex situations with a lot of competing components. As in all landscapes, all of the components are elements that need to be there and anything that interferes with the story must be removed either by changing the angle, or changing your lens. In other words, focus in what is truly important.

Sunsets tend to be rather complex and just about every kind of sunset that has ever occurred has already been photographed millions of times. However, they are compelling and draw us to them by the nature of their beauty and no two of them are ever the same. One thing I like to do is when facing a sunset regardless of how powerful it might be, I always turn around and look the other direction because sometimes the most compelling images can be discovered that way.

The light from a sunset will often cast a soft warm glow across a landscape, and sometimes you discover a simple composition that diverts your attention away from the main source of the light and onto an element that becomes the photograph of the day. Add a little creative post processing magic and a simple scene becomes an amazing image.

Looking for the Simple Landscape is a challenging opportunity, but one that offers the potential for a striking and unique photograph. Give it a try and retrain your eye to look for the simple elements found in nature.