October 24, 2019

Photography

What a difference a new century makes. Now are lives are broadcast over social media, everything is exposed as if to say look at me, look at me, we are happy fun loving people, are you jealous yet of our ego’s need to project ourselves for strangers eyes to see us not as we are but as we wish to be seen. 

All these pics are snapshots of the run and gun type without depth, character and originality being present. To be involved in a scene, intimately, whether it be a person, a landscape, a street scene or a studio creation you must feel some deeper purpose in your connection to your subject. Without a feeling of inner recognition, a sense that something more is developing in your presence and this something is asking you to translate the scene with your intuitive perception is the only way which you will create a photograph worthy of being seen. Not just a snap shot of people as objects but a deeper understanding of the scene present and a willingness to dive even deeper into the subject with an original composition.

Picture taking now is random, without a set purpose. It has become a means of escape rather than a means of inner acting with the external subject being understood and accepted. It is a means of escaping your daily rituals of life for an adventure without purpose, just snapping away at anything that looks semi-interesting.

These spur of the moment clicks of the shutter and then your done and off to a new subject until you feel used and tired and nothing in the external world catches your eye anymore and you simple fold your conscious awareness away for another rainy day when you feel the urge to snap more pics of anything that doesn’t take to long and interfere with the baseball, football game or dinner!

One click and your done just like picking up pizza cooked and ready to eat. One click and you already have it on your social media site showing the advertisers that troll these sites a product you might be interested in and soon you will receive an ad with coupons for a pizza place in your area. It is ego that demands you upload it to a media site this way, your pic has been published for all eyes to see and make comments on just as if you were a world famous photographer!

Picture taking and viewing pictures is now random perceptions of a surface details without depth and an inner connection felt by you. Our intellect, the conformity of behavior, moves us onward for the hunt of a bigger better pic but in truth you just passed a subject that was calling for you to stop and look with patient eyes. Most of the images snapped to today are reflections in shallow waters.

The ability to take snap shots and have a digital record of your moments have created an addiction, a need to stop interacting with your subjects on a deeper level but now only interact with them in your physical space not with a purpose of a deeper composition you want to make but the new norm, a shallow representation of the scene present. 

You have to focus your intent in your image creations. Do you want an image that expresses your inner truth or an image that is a random snap shot that has no originality and looks like a billion other images without a purpose?

Stop living on the surface of life and begin to dig deeper into your outer reality looking for those instances of unique interaction, a unique impression, those special moments that as a photographer when you become present in your vision with the subject as it presents itself to you, allowing you the time needed for your energy and intuition to ramp up into high gear and you immerse yourself into the scene before you. And it is these special moments of insight when you are in tune with inner self and your surroundings, and your focus is only on the present moment, studying the different angles, testing different compositions looking for that unique perspective that will give you that image worth creating.  

When you immerse yourself deep into your selective vision that eliminates details that will not add to the final image creation you feel a widening awareness and a revelation of a connection with your subject and life.

In this fast paste hustle we lead, we have forgotten how to relax and allow our instinctive perceptions time enough to really see the subject hidden before us. 

We don’t need logic to interfere with our natural vision that is connecting with a unique composition that is present waiting to be discovered. 

With the stress in this world in constant hyper-overdrive we need to let go of the rat race of repetitive actions and delve deeper into our own inner awareness and develop a means of expression that reflects our inner truth. Not someone else’s inner truth but your own!

Why do we act like cattle moving in a herd repeating an action over and over again without originality hoping that what we are doing will eventually pay off in a great photograph? 

It seems that we have lost our barring, our future life has been sidetracked and replaced with a redundancy of boring reproductions of touristy images without it seems any intended purpose. Just a means to document that you were here, there and everywhere.

But you were not present in your moments of visual excitement. You ignored the moment of truth in your composition and then walked away from your image of a life time. Patience is the key to great imagery.

What is more important the image creation or the posting of a snap shot on social media? We have lost our ability to slow down and really look at something that intrigues us, that is demanding us to have a closer scrutiny of the scene. 

In order to create images worthy of your talent you must be present in your visual conception through a studied composition that takes into consideration time of day, color, lens, tripod, perspective, details in, details out… Your subject must feel your presence and give you little hints of appropriate angles to compose from, moving you past the obvious composition to a deeper connection with the scene and its natural appearance.

Photography doesn’t need more shallow pics of look alike redundancy.

Photography’s challenge is to keep it’s head above the overwhelming amount of snap shots happening billions of time a day that is undermining the integrity of photography’s true purpose. A great photograph is a means of expressing your inner vision through the details in our external reality.

By digging deeper into the scene, to find the connection that is at first hidden but through focused attention and experimenting with composition one finds the details that when framed in the view finder reveals the expressive character of the scene with deep meaning for you and the viewers insightful understanding. 

Your vision has been complete when you get back home excited to review your images, knowing that through your patience and sensitivity you have created a great image.