It’s What’s Inside That Counts
No matter what the discipline be it football, fly fishing or photography, it is the duty of the uninformed to reduce that hard-earned mastery to a one-line dismissal.
Even back in ancient Japan, when the samurai were perfecting their combat skills you can bet there would have been someone on the sidelines claiming “it’s just waving a silly sword around”.
If only the camera had the same limb separating qualities as a katana we probably wouldn’t hear ‘it’s only pushing a button” as much but despite this idle derision it doesn’t hurt to understand the true origins of a great photo.
First and foremost the camera isn’t responsible for a great image any more than an oven makes a great roast dinner. You can set the temp and timer but if you think a cracking roast spud is the oven’s doing you insult every home cooking hero out there.
In truth the click of the shutter is less an inception and more of the ribbon cutting ceremony, the launch party to celebrate all the hard work. The photo actually begins even before the shot is lined up. It is the burgeoning imagination, the impetus to discover and the interpretation of the reality presented. The camera has a vital role but as a conduit between mind and matter. It could just as easily be a brush, chisel or chalk with the only difference being the publication you read this from.
When we think about it, in most cases the camera earns its keep as a record keeper. The weddings, work do’s and the idle pointing at monuments on holiday. Each event, as noble a cause as each is, is one of function and doesn’t unleash the camera to its full potential.
The spirit of a great photograph is unleashing that potential. It’s about letting your mind take the reins, not allowing the narrow path of normality to dictate the outcomes. The photographer sees the light not as a rigid reality but a palate with which to paint their scene. Quite often the image in print is a total departure from the humble eye’s interpretation. Underexposure, overexposure, long exposures, composition, depth of field, framing, angle, perspective distortion all play their part and that’s not even factoring the when’s, where’s and why’s of subject selection.
We all have different perceptions of the world around us, no experience can ever be the same and nor should it. The true photographer takes that experience and finds a way to funnel it into a format we can all see. With a bit of luck, that image then inspires the next imagination and the procession of creativity continues on.
So when we think of a great photograph we have to look beyond the camera to the photographer themself. The camera might not appear to have the same charm as the artist’s brush but it’s the same spirit that drives it. You can’t say painting with light doesn’t sound cool either.
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