2.1: 2PH CAMERA AND SEEING

Last updated
Save as PDF

Page ID: 90589

\( \newcommand{\vecs}[1]{\overset { \scriptstyle \rightharpoonup} {\mathbf{#1}} } \) \( \newcommand{\vecd}[1]{\overset{-\!-\!\rightharpoonup}{\vphantom{a}\smash {#1}}} \)\(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\)\(\newcommand{\AA}{\unicode[.8,0]{x212B}}\)

When I was in high school, I couldn’t afford the camera equipment I needed. I discussed this problem with a photographer I knew. His solution to my problem was simple—just shoot using the equipment you have. Don’t worry about the rest.

Instead of concentrating on what you cannot do with the camera equipment you have, concentrate on what you can do. And don’t worry about what isn’t around to take photographs of. Take photographs of what is around.

Related to using what is at hand—yesterday my wife showed me a photograph of a politician. It was shot from ground-level, which made it look very strange. She asked why the photographer might have shot it that way...

Let’s say you are a member of the press corps following the White House. Your job is basically to take thousands of pictures of people opening and closing their mouths with practiced expressions. Think back to a time you have seen a press conference and you hear dozens of shutters firing in any given second while someone drones on about something. Do you think those photographs are interesting? No. They are mind-numbingly boring. And all of those photographs from different photographers all look pretty much the same.

Spring fern from our garden. It took 24 years for me to notice the tiny ones.

So, for a photographer to give a different take on this scenario is wholly freeing for them! An unusual photograph might also be good for the audience. It might stop the viewer and have them give the image more time. Perhaps even present the viewer with a puzzle, as it did with my wife.

So, as they say, when presented with lemons, either with your equipment or with your choice of subject, make limoncello.

The same philosophy applies to where you are. You don’t have to travel to Nepal to get incredible photographs. There are things in your own environment that are picture-worthy. You might just be too familiar with them to notice.

Many great photographers have portrayed what happens to be around them. Emmet Gowen’s photographs of his wife Edith. Harry Callahan’s photographs of his wife or his landscapes around Chicago. Imogen Cunningham photographed plants in her home while taking care of her small children. Vivian Maier took photographs while being a nanny.

William Wegman has been photographing his dogs since the 1970s (remember those dogs on Sesame Street?) and Cindy Sherman has been photographing the most available subject—herself—for just as long. Yes, those photographs are all of her.

Laurie Simmons (whose daughter is the Girl), Jan Groover, and David Levinthal take still-lifes using common props to make social commentaries.

The point is that you can find incredible things where you are with what you have. No excuses.

Note

These introductions to photographers are categorized according to somewhat spurious criteria. The categories are really just meant to get you to start looking.

But of course categorizing people is almost always a spurious activity.