First and foremost, I believe that photography is an art form. The camera, film, and all other pieces of equipment necessary to capture the photons of light are tools to be used to achieve the expression of one's thought processes.
All of life's experiences and knowledge gained though the years of one's life serve to prepare the mind to determine what you want to say through your photographs.
A person that grows up in an urban environment will have different experiences and will interpret a scene very differently than a person that grows up in a rural area. Thus, interpretation of any given subject will be unique to that person.
I believe that, in order to be able to depict a true interpretation of a scene, you have to know and understand what your tools can do. In other words, you should not only know how your camera works, but you should understand why it does what it does at all settings. It does not matter if the camera is a top-of-the-line SLR or a bottom-of-the-line toy camera. If it is capable of capturing an image, it is a candidate for use for creative expression.
For example, what would happen to the image being captured if you; (1.) change the aperture, (2.) change the shutter speed, or (3.) change the film ISO? Any of these three changes would change the way the light hits the film plane, thus affecting the negative. Knowing what and why this occurs allows you to make a knowledgeable decision on how to expose the film in order to capture what is seen "in the mind's eye". Other variables that affect the image are: brand of film, speed of film, type of film, time of day, quality of light, and even the weather.
It is my belief that the seeds of creativity are in everyone. Anyone can "learn" how to be creative, if they do not believe they are. The tools of photography are learned so that someone can use those tools to interpret what they see in the world. No two people will see a subject the same. Everyone will use their own life's experience and knowledge to garner their own idea of what is important in a subject and to depict that subject.
In order to apply one's philosophy to the creative process in photography, it is necessary to learn to see like a camera. The ability to "see" what the camera sees must be learned. I believe that this is an intellectual aspect of the creative process because no one is born seeing the world with either a 94 degree or a 3 degree angle of vision.
In order to understand a wide-angle lens, you have to practice seeing the world like a wide-angle lens. Likewise, in order to understand a telephoto lens, you have to practice seeing the world like a telephoto lens.
This process is a matter of practice. I use a card with a hole cut out to simulate a photographic frame. By moving the card closer or farther from the eye, different angles of view can be experienced.
I believe it is necessary to learn and understand basic compositional "rules" in order to be able to successfully interpret the world on film. That does not mean that it is necessary to follow those rules, just to understand them. By having this understanding, it will then be possible to know when a rule can be "broken" in order to achieve a particular vision.
I have found that the best place to study composition is in the history of Art. Throughout time, basic rules of composition have been developed based on the customs of the time.
Once the rules are understood, departure from them can be done when a subject is found that would benefit from an alternate point-of-view. I have found that an unusual point-of-view or "angle-of-view" can create an interesting composition and invigorate what could have been a rather boring subject.
As I have gained photographic experience through years of exposing and studying my photographs, I have found that I tend to gravitate toward finding images that are close to home. My images are small, detailed slices of beauty that I find in and around my immediate vicinity.
The evolution of my photographic vision is such that I am continually trying to expand the tools and my interpretation of the world. As I look back at some of the photographs that came out the camera when first started shooting, then look at some more recent images, I am rather amazed at the change.
| Back |