Seeing Past the Lens

For a while there I was in the dumps about photography. These days, any 12 year old with an Instagram account is taking some pretty amazing shots. The art of photography does not carry the weight and prestige it once did.

Then one day, as I sat staring at the wall of a coffee shop, it hit me: The most powerful photographs in history have not been the ones that were so painstakingly setup by art directors or perfectly framed by photographers. Those crafts help cultivate the atmosphere needed for a powerful image but as with all things art, two plus two may not equal four.

The most powerful photographs are the ones that capture a feeling or energy that the photographer sees through the physical reality in front of his/her eyes. Right about now you’re probably thinking “ah crap, he just got into some hippie-ass bullshit.” Well… Yes, you would be correct.

A photographer aims to be the ultimate craftsman. He or she understands lighting, angels, rules of thirds and so on. It is then, when he or she is an expert at the craft of photo-taking (where shooting clean, attractive imagery is now muscle memory), that the photographer is able to see past the reality before him or her. The most powerful photographs in history have been the ones where the photographer is able to see (Obligatory Matrix reference in three… Two… One…) “the ones and zeros” rather than the subject and lighting.

Do some Googling. The most famous images of all time have been the in-between snaps; where a photo shoot has been coordinated but the photographer snaps a photo in between different staging setups.

I’ve given up obsessing over technical aspects of photography. I suck at that stuff anyway. I’m skipping past the craft. I’m aiming at seeing the ones and zeros…