Who is this picture for? (Part 2 — A Self Analysis Example)
Do photography your own way. But, consider who you’re doing it for.
In Part 1 of this series, we explored the idea of “purpose” behind images. At this point, the idea of “OK, maybe this purpose thing could possibly be kind of important” should at least be starting to find its place in your mind. In this portion of the series, I would like to turn the mirror on myself and consider, as an example for us, some of the mistakes I've made regarding purpose — mistakes that I will never have the ability to go back in time and fix.
Too Much and Not Enough
As a photographer, in self-critique, I honestly believe I've fallen short in my mission as a photographer thus far. There are certainly some successes to be celebrated and some wonderful growth to be considered — but beyond those considerations, the idea of purpose hasn't been enough of of a priority in my work. I largely believe I have failed myself not because I haven’t considered the purpose of photos before creating them— but due to the fact that my purposes have been so limited in variety. As I consider my expanse of photo work from the last 10 years, I see an extremely unbalanced set of purposes. 95% of what I have spent my time photographing serves nearly the same one or two purposes. What are those one or two purposes, you might wonder? Well, here’s a hint — they are heavily weighted in social media. Writing this series has been somewhat of an eye opener and will likely change the way I photograph, going forward. I think it’s worth digressing briefly to remind everyone that we have various methods of learning in our lives, but teaching and instructing someone else are often among the most effective ways of learning. If you really want to learn something, try to teach that something.
Running with those thoughts, I would wager to say that the very small handful of images that I've created, that I truly enjoy and “feel” today, all involve some kind of preservation of a special moment in a unique situation — and very little consideration was given to how they might be received on social media. A moment was observed, the purpose was considered, a purpose was discovered, and the final image conveys that purpose effectively through past, present and future. In those images, some combination of external factors such as subject, light and “other elements” came together briefly in a manner that isn't easily staged — and in addition to that, there are also internal factors such as feeling, mood or emotional state that are also somehow conveyed and truly give the photograph and its photographer their unique voice. One may look at it, and it may not be the best “technical” capture of a subject or thing (it doesn't always need to be) — but it was an emotional capture of a moment with an intended purpose. More importantly to note, nearly all of those photos fit into that small 5% outside of my aforementioned 1 or 2 “go-to” purposes. Subjects can be found, props can be placed, people can be directed, models can be adorned, weather and star information is readily available and we all know the daily path and hours of the sun and moon — the variable factors that create those purposeful captured moments are factors beyond the subject, setting and light. I do believe these very factors are what make many of the great professional images that you see in magazines so challenging to create. They technically aren't true moments. But when we see them in the magazines, we have to be able to believe that they were true moments. I have much respect for those photographers and I believe that many of them would likely make great fiction writers, because they can somehow take something completely staged and unnatural and make it seem natural and unstaged — and through the photo, answer questions such as, “What am I feeling right now?”, “What is this photo’s purpose?” and “How do I want to convey that feeling and purpose to the outside world?”
With that considered, I think the most important idea in my self-analysis is that in the future, that 95% / 5% ratio needs to be moving more in the direction of 50% / 50%. Do keep in mind, these are not universal pass/fail constraints. They are simply guidelines along my personal continuum — guidelines that hopefully will leave me truly revisiting my past in satisfying ways through my photos, some 20 or 30 years from now. But, this could also could completely change 5 years from now. A wonderful freedom surrounding the meaning of anything we create with the camera (and much of the meaning of life to each of us) is that we, ultimately, get to make our own rules.
With my side of the story being shared, our next part in the series will focus on you, the reader. When making photos, how often have you considered the series’ title question of “Who is this picture for?” Would you even know where to begin considering it? We will hopefully find answers.
In Part 3 of this series, we will try an exercise in an attempt to open up some ideas for the purpose of our photos.
