What makes a photo interesting? If you ask an expert, he/she will come up with many reasons. Does a photographer, if we discount their skill levels, think of these numerous reasons before taking a picture? I doubt so. In spite of not thinking about the rules related to photography, aren't people able to come up with breathtaking pictures? I am leaning towards yes. Of late, I come across many blogs that regularly features digital photographs. Many such blogs contain quite a lot of encouraging comments from the subscribers and readers. When I examine the picture, it doesn't make any sense to me. Whichever way I look at it; they do not rise above ordinary.
A few years back, I was requesting my friend's to give me pictures to post on my blog. Although I promised a link to their profiles, it is difficult to match the photographer's aspiration to what I am writing. East is east. West is west. Never shall the twain meet. Since I was in the company of two excellent photographers with opposite attitudes to photography, I decided to learn from them. The resulting exercise turned out to be a boon and a bane for me. I am able to make interesting pictures that were the boon while my condescension towards ordinary pictures turned out to be the bane. I refrain from commenting on these blogs.
There are two styles to shooting a picture. One is visualizing the result before you shoot. You have considered all the necessary rules and incorporated a couple of them. If you do have trouble digesting this, you may check out, https://www.flickr.com/photos/popeyee/. The shot are planned in a split of a second in the mind of this photographer. Such is his brilliance. The second style is shooting from the hip. There is no plan. You like a scene and you want to immortalize it. So you click it. All of us adopt this technique. But it takes talent to create interesting pictures while shooting from the hip. If you want to see pictures of this kind, check out https://500px.com/nishyadu. Shooting from the hip also implies creative genius and an underlying laziness. So this photographer, brimming with talent and laziness, does not update his site too often. If you can find him on facebook, you will see a lot of hidden gems inside his albums.
Now let's come back to our original question. What makes a photo interesting? A photographer friend summarizes, "I take a picture thinking it is a great picture. Nobody likes it. And then I have another picture that I think is mediocre. People can't stop raving about it". These days, I just click if I like what I see in my front. It is more exciting and rewarding when the audience finds a meaning. Sometimes, they get close to what we had in mind. Sometimes they, with their line of thinking, help us find the reason we thought the scene was best to be captured using our lens.
Interesting... except few times, I always end up shooting from my hip. :)
ReplyDeleteYes, I can see your shots are well composed.
Deletewhatever the picture is, it is always exciting when the audience appreciates and find its meaning.. good post.
ReplyDeleteAmen. It gives more pleasure when the audience find it without our help. :)
DeleteWe always have something in the mind when we shoot pictures. Most of the us find it difficult to articulate. But this is a good exercise to improve self.
ReplyDelete