Photographing the unusual - developing artistic "vision".

ZoneV

ZoneV

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I've been pointing my camera at "things" for a while now. Trees, rugby players, mountains, cars, planes, insects. Runners, coins, bridges, birds (even the feathered kind) and other animals. Sometimes even people. Sometimes I get down low, sometimes I get high up. Sometimes centre, sometimes on the third.

Sometimes they're perfectly sharp. Sometimes the exposure, contrast and colours are beautiful but the trouble is, after looking at the work of photographers who manage to produce striking imagery with no real subject whatsovever, I realise my collection is just a lot of "pictures-of-things". Devoid of anything other than the obvious. :shrug:

I realise I'm probably rambling now but I look at the work of some of the masters, and more recently some of Pascal's pictures on this forum, and it's got me thinking.

How do you "see" an image in the unusual? How do you develop that vision? :thinking:

*Goes for a lie down*
 
Jayst84 said:
Practice. Study other art besides photography. Or, the easy way, just be born with it. :p
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply. I'm going to give it a go, see how I get on - I'll try to avoid taking pictures of "things" for a while.

This should be fun (...or a total bloody disaster! :nuts:). :lol:
 
Sounds like you need to concentrate more on what you "Feel", when your looking at a "Thing". Try to show that in the finished item.
Its sort of the difference between "Making" a photo and just "Taking" one.
 
I do very little fully creative photography, mostly shooting things is see around me.

What works for me is:
#1 Light (this is mostly being very observant)
and/or
#2 "Moments" (again being observant and having the ability to capture them)
and or
#3 Story telling (fairly rare for me).
If all threee work together (really are then that is great).
 
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ZoneV said:
How do you "see" an image in the unusual? How do you develop that vision? :thinking:

*Goes for a lie down*
Click to expand...

I can only recommend one book here, called The Photographers Eye by Michael Freeman.

It's a bit hard going but take it in stages and try taking some pictures as you read the book.

HTH

David
 
An exercise I set for students is to take five shots of a fork. Makes them think.
 
Remember that what you're doing is capturing light. With the right light a mundane subject can look awesome. A commercial photographer I used to work with was a master of lighting, he'd shot a couple of slices of pepper in a frying pan, not in itself an amazing subject but the lighting and composition made it amazing.
 
Thanks for the replies guys, plenty of food for thought there.

Willid, I actually have that book and really enjoyed it. I think the mistake I'm making is I apply the principles too obviously, too simplisticly. I need to learn to see beyond the obvious and "read" a scene more artistically and less realistically, if that makes sense. :thinking: Having said that, I think I'll give it another read anyway, it is a very good book.
 
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