The Camera is an Instrument

I don’t have a photographic memory, but I think this is day #3 of ‘Photography Week’ at the Napkin Dad Daily

One thing I have always tried to teach my students, whether formally when I was a college instructor, or informally in my photo group, is that your eye is the deciding factor in whether you are going to make great images, NOT your technical ability. You have to be able to look beyond the obvious and see what else is available.

Maybe it’s shape, texture, content, patterns, color, emotion. But what you first see is not always what is most important. Perhaps what is next to that main element is actually more important. Maybe the combination of those things will give you the image you want. Maybe the empty space in between the elements are what really tell the best story in that scene.

Taking the most obvious picture will usually yield the most obvious response. The most obvious response usually dissipates very quickly, leaving the viewer feeling a bit cheated. The image becomes like propaganda, the simplest message delivered in the simplest way possible. And unless you are trying to pound someone with a message, it also becomes the most boring way as well.

Here are some of my more interesting landscape photos.