Learning About Photography

There are two main vehicles by which I have learned (and am learning) the art of nature photography. The first is through the books of John Shaw, and the second is actually going out and taking photos (and messing up a lot!). The books by John Shaw are unbelievable, just the full-color photos contained in the books makes you want to go out and take your own photos, but also his earlier books deal with the equipment that I currently own and use (fully manual film cameras). His later books that I have deal with more sophisticated film cameras, but I can still gain a lot by reading them. Below are some excerpts from his book Focus on Nature: The Creative Process Behind Making Great Photographs in the Field, (New York: Amphoto, 1991), that I found extremely useful and well said. I hope you enjoy them as well.

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Introduction
Photography is a way to order the chaos around you by emphasizing some aspects of the environment and ignoring others. You do this by choosing what to photograph and what to include in the frame. Then by using the tools of photography (lenses, films, light and exposure) and selecting a vantage point from which to photograph, you emphasize one aspect or another of your subject. In effect, you're telling the viewer what is important by your having made choices.

But order doesn't happen automatically. Simply pointing a camera at a subject doesn't guarantee a successful photograph if success is defined as an interesting, engaging work that involves the viewer's mind and emotions. You have to structure a photograph both technically and aesthetically without allowing these concerns to overwhelm the subject matter. When the construction of a photograph is more noticeable than its content, you've failed as a photographer; instead you are a dilettante in the worst sense of the word.

How to arrange a picture, how to make order out of chaos, should be a conscious decision on your part. Structuring your visual environment is the role of composition, and the more you can consciously control this structure, the better a photographer you'll be. I believe that far too often - myself included - tend to be sloppy when it comes to making decisions. We slide be with such vague thoughts as "That's a pretty scene" or "Oh, I like that" without analyzing exactly what we mean. You should ask yourself some questions. What has influenced me? Why am I visually excited about a particular situation? What specifically can I do to emphasize the subject?

There is quite a difference between the procedure of photography and the process of photography; but a good work has both. Photography is a synthesis of two ways of dealing with the world, two ways of dealing with subject matter. On one hand, you must be a technician, determining shutter speeds and f-stops, choosing equipment and mounting lenses for example. You must have a rational, strictly scientific approach to your work. Here, step two must follow step one in the correct manner in order for the machinery to work properly to record an image. This side of photography is the logical world of procedure. On the other hand, you must also be a poet and an artist, paying attention to the intuitive and mystical world of your inner vision. You have to bring your own sense of emotions about the subject to the photograph, otherwise it'll be lifeless. You must be able to see an image. This is the process of taking a picture.

Procedure without process is as much a failure as process without procedure. A photograph can't be successful without the interplay and mutual support of these aspects. Everyone has seen photographs that are technically immaculate but aesthetically insipid. The usual reaction to such pictures is that they are dull, uninspired work. Everyone has also seen photographs that are intensely personal and evocative yet lack a solid basis in technique. These are judged to be the result of bad craftsmanship and an inability to control the medium. The artist with his vision and the craftsman with his tools must unite to create a successful product. (9-10)

Seeing the Light
Most people don't see the nuances of light on the landscape. A photograph is only a two-dimensional representation of our experience. The fuller the experience, the more it touches all of our senses, the better our photographs are. Visual sensitivity to the landscape and how it is shaped by light is a skill that we need to develop. We must learn to spontaneously respond to unexpected moments of clarity and light. We literally must have insight.

Many of us have never seen the light. I believe this happens because we are in such a hurry that we don't have the time to watch how the light changes and consequently alters the appearance of subjects. Without noticing change, we see neither the beginning nor the end but think that how subjects look at the observed moment is how they always look.

We tend to do this, consciously or not. I am as guilty of being in a hurry as everyone else. When I travel to a new location, I often feel I must get a definitive photograph immediately. The pressure I place on myself to produce prevents me from seeing what is happening around me. Like most other people, I need to slow down. Keep in mind that our perception of a place is colored by the time of day and year that we saw it. For example, if you visit the Everglades on a morning in February, the way it looks at that particular time is the way it will be locked into your memory, But the Everglades in February isn't the Everglades in July, and the Everglades in the morning isn't the Everglades at twilight.

I realize that most of us are pressed for time to photograph. We have appointments to keep, jobs to go to, and engagements that take up our time. But learning to see the light, to see how light changes a subject during a day or a season's duration, is of utmost importance. The word "photography" literally means to paint with light. An awareness of light is our first and most essential tool in terms of our aesthetic control when taking a photograph.

Slow down, stay a little longer, just wait and watch. Only be being in the field and observing the light play upon the landscape can you truly learn to see the world around you. (17)

Graphic Elements
In photography, that is, photo-graphics, you're dealing with the graphic elements that are common to all visual arts. You must be conscious of the basic building blocks of design: color, line, pattern, texture and form. The become your visual vocabulary, and photographic technique provides the syntax. The synthesis of the two is communication. (19)