THINK! by Gord Barker

      In some ways, photography is too easy. These days, anyone with a cell phone or a half decent digital camera can make a reasonably good photograph. Knowledge of the fundamental, technical  aspects of the craft is almost unnecessary. I mean there are full time professional photographers walking around who don't know an f-stop from a bus stop!

    There was a time when I would have been appalled at this situation. (and, to a minor degree I still am) However, I think that I have somewhat mellowed with age. Photography is fundamentally about creating beautiful and/or interesting visual images. It has always been a results oriented endeavor. If I'm creating images that grab peoples' attention, no one (with the possible exception of other photographers) really cares about how I achieve the results.

     What brought this home to me (literally!) was a recent conversation I had with my son. Of late, Greg has been doing a lot of video and still photography editing. He shoots most of his content with an Iphone but occasionally uses a Canon EOS M3 camera passed on to him by yours truly. I have offered several times to walk him through basic camera operation but he is content to just leave everything on automatic (program mode) and get the images and video footage he needs. In his words "I'm an editor first. As long as I can get a shot that I can work with, I'm fine." He is the diametric opposite of his father whose approach is "Get it right in camera!" Where he is happiest playing with imaging in post, I am happiest behind a camera trying to reduce the time I spend in front of a computer. Two very different approaches to image making, but ultimately the goal is the same. Produce good work that is visually interesting. He has a good eye and a solid knowledge of composition. As I said earlier, photography/videography is results oriented. Ultimately the, imagery speaks for itself.

Photo of me by Greg Barker from a blog post he wrote here as a guest author.   https://refractivereasoning.blogspot.com/2022/06/living-with-photographer-by-greg-barker.html

Photo taken and edited by Greg Barker

     One would think that the simplification of the technical aspects of the craft would result in better images overall. I mean, if you don't have to be overly concerned with exposure settings, focusing a lens, and other technical details, you should have more time to concentrate on things like composition, various aspects of your subject and the overall message or mood that you want the photograph to convey. Sadly, I often find the opposite to be true. In various online and social media feeds, I find that a lot of the pictures tend to be pretty lackluster.

    I kind of touched on this subject in a piece that I wrote a few years ago. https://refractivereasoning.blogspot.com/2019/06/shooting-with-intent.html

   

     If I could offer one piece of advice to anyone who wants to create better photographic images it would be this. 

    "THINK!'' 

    Take a moment to think about the photograph BEFORE pressing the shutter button. Ask yourself, "Why am I taking this?'' "What message or mood am I trying to convey?"  "How do I want the final image to look?" "What tools / equipment do I have on hand to make that vision a reality?" "What compositional tricks (rule of thirds, leading lines, S curves etc.) can I use to make a more interesting composition?" "Would it help to change my viewpoint and move around to get a better view or composition of the subject?" Simply raising a camera or imaging device and pressing a button will invariably lead to a nicely focused, correctly exposed, boring photograph. 

    C'mon! You're better than that! Take a little pride in your work! Work the scene and get a better shot!

    Just because the photographic process has become automated, doesn't mean that your vision should be.

                    ...more later