Personal Vision

One important but often overlooked concept of photography I've grown to understand more and more over the years is the idea of having a personal vision for what you want to accomplish. Understandably, most people are not inclined to think of their photographic endeavors as much more than simple attempts at taking decent pictures of the family and friends. There are a lot of merits to that approach. It certainly is less stressful and easier to accomplish.

Serious photographers possess a different attitude about what they want to accomplish. Often they carry within them an artistic value that desires an outlet and photography offers to them an obtainable avenue to accomplish those desires. When we begin to rely too much on others to support that outlet is when we find ourselves being disappointed.

Having a personal vision is fundamental for all great artists. I would venture a guess that those who succeeded in their personal adventures to reach the pinnacle of their artistic talents have discovered how to effectively blend vision with action. Yet, no amount of blending will ever occur until there is first a vision and then proper action applied at the right time. Most of us never fully realize this. It's a shame really, because the world would certainly be a more beautiful place if we did.

What hold us back? I would guess there are about as many reasons as there are people seeking answers to that question. In reality, a vision comes from within and is nurtured into maturity by circumstance and desire. It is first recognizing that it exists, then making the effort to refine it, mold it, strengthen it, and focus it. By doing so, we can often discover new revelations about ourselves. Photography is a great way to open the doors to those discoveries.

I once heard it said that within all photographs reside two people; the person who sees it, and the person who took it. In photographs that capture the imagination anyone who sees it is able to place themselves into that moment of capture, and each captured moment expresses a part of who we are as photographers. Don't under estimate a personal vision for your photography, and more importantly, never allow others to deflate your vision simply because they are unable to see it.

Keith

The magic of old photo's

The other day I was thumbing through a Facebook page of an old friend of mine I have not seen in many, many years. Posted on his page were photo after photo of his family through the years. It was such a nice collection and anyone could readily see the joy and pride that glowed from within those images. I almost felt like I had experienced 40 years of his family life in just a few minutes. None of the photo's were very artistic, but they certainly captured the moments and memories.

Most of what I write about relates to artistic flavors of photography and I even at times tend to shun those more informal, yet meaningful and personal photo's.  I must admit, that approach has been a mistake I have made  for far too long, and as a consequence have failed to take anywhere near enough of those kinds of photographs.

Even so, on our bookshelves sit 8 or 10 old albums of exactly those kinds of images. Most were taken with simple disposable cameras and are not of very good quality, yet they retain a sense of spontaneity that more polished images tend to neglect. More importantly, they possess more personal value than all of the so called higher quality images I've ever taken.

I believe one day in the far, far, future, the images that will carry the most value historically will be those old family type photo's. All of the high quality images of scenic wonders will over time lose their impact except as a connection to a transitional era of ecological order. 

Yet, those simple, more personal images will resonate about who we were as a people and society, and future generations long removed from today will gaze in wonder about why that child was making that kind of face, or why did they dress up that dog, or what were all those candles doing on that cake. 

Who knows, but I believe every single person who has ever taken a snapshot photograph of someone in his family has contributed to the visual history of our era. Those histories will in time become some of the most valuable pieces of information we can pass on to the future.   

Stretch Your Imagination...Photographically

Just imagine some of the most incredible photographs you've ever seen. They may reside inside a National Geographic or some other nature magazine. They may reside inside a coffee table book about exotic locations. They may hang on a wall or adorn an office space, or maybe float around on a website. Now...imagine this. You took those photo's.

You're probably thinking ...yeah right...but, I'm serious...why not you? There are no reasons why you can't take those same kind of awe inspiring images. It's just a matter of believing you can do it and taking the steps to learn how. Certainly fundamentals come into play. Taking great photos does require a solid understanding of the basics, but that's the least important element...it takes more than that. It takes a sense of awareness of what makes a great photograph, and all great photographs begin with Light.

Photography is 90% seeing and 10% photographing. Unfortunately most people never move past the 10% part. They seem to flounder on high center trying to figure out how to take a mechanical picture and never move beyond that aspect and miss out on learning about the other 90% of the essentials of photography.

One thing I've learned over the years about photography is that imagination is more valuable than technical skill. Oh, understanding the technical stuff is important, but it's not everything. What really is important is being able to recognize that photographic moment...to see beyond the ordinary to observe the extraordinary. Applying technical elements to a potential photographic moment matters little if you're not looking at the right moment. Stretching your imagination will carry your photography much further than spending a lot of effort trying to figure out the magic camera settings formula. Contrary to popular belief, there are no magic formulas for camera settings, just an understanding of how the camera sees and reacts to light, then using that understanding in imaginative ways.

I know a lot of photographers...some of them are really good...many are moving on up...some are stuck in the dark ages photographically. They just can't seem to jump start their imaginations vividly enough to move forward. That is unfortunate, because all of them are quite capable of taking amazing photographs, but allow preconceived misconceptions to hold them back.

Coming up in another few weeks, we're still working out the details, I'll be teaching another photography workshop that will spend a lot of time exploring this idea of jump starting your imagination photographically. We'll talk about the basics of course, but those basics are simply the foundation from which the best part of photography springs from. The intent is to get the participants to start thinking beyond the obvious and to look at the world from a different perspective, to give up the notion of always photographing the same ole things the same ole ways. We'll encourage them to step outside of their comfort zones and to look at photography from the aspect of combining a measure of technical skill with Stretching their Imaginations. It should be fun.

Keith