Learning photography is a challenging endeavor because it is so easy to have false perceptions about it. Most people believe that they can just pick up a camera and make a meaningful photograph, and to a degree, this is true. Photography has reached the masses like no other art form because of old promise from Kodak, “You press the button; we do the rest.”
When used as a tool to record our family and friends, it is easy to make a meaningful photograph. But where it becomes more difficult is when you try to make a photo that is a self expression of something deep inside you.
I think most of us started off thinking that would be easy…I know I did. You can see it at almost any photography exhibition or gallery, when someone points to a photograph and boasts “I can do better than that.”
Almost anyone could learn to ferment grape juice to create something that meets the technical definition of wine. How many people can make something that tastes like a typical bottle of $7 wine at the grocery store, or a nice $40 pinot noir, or something even more rare and delicate?
The same holds true for photography. Anyone can click the shutter and make a photograph. The challenge is making an image that contains delicate and expressive qualities…those elements that venture beyond words, and lead the viewer into deeper thoughts and emotions.
So, what is the central objective of making an expressive photograph? It’s simply to express yourself…and to do it to the best of your ability.
Expressing ourselves with photography, and achieving a result that brings us satisfaction, requires us to continually study photography and understand it at an ever intuitive level. By doing this, we can use its vocabulary and grammar, rhyme and meter, subtlety and nuance, so we can craft a photograph that achieves that goal.
It takes a change of heart. You have to abandon the idea that making an expressive photograph is all about luck when you click the shutter.
It’s not.
It’s an intentional act that involves skill in making. And that requires a whole different approach than just showing up with a bag of tricks and hoping to get lucky.
But it also holds the promise of great rewards. Proficiency in the craft leads to more consistent results and great satisfaction in being able to turn your internal feelings into a photograph that expresses them in a form others can experience.
