Today Señior Photographía will lead you further down the rabbit hole picking up from where Mr. Beaty left off last week. As you may remember, Matt discussed the importance of technical knowledge to the photographic medium. He pointed out several great resources to look to for inspiration and learning.
I couldn't agree more with Matt that gear is often a pillar to hide weak photography behind. "If I only had [more expensive piece of gear], I could go pro..." And while better gear can lead to better images; gear, any gear, is only a tool to help you achieve your preconceived vision for how a particular image should look. Give a musical genius a $100 violin and they will make beautiful music, but even a Stradivarius in the hands of a beginner will squeak and break notes. The difference isn't the gear but the vision, experience and appreciation for the medium that gives rise to better music (or photographs, paintings etc...)
The point is, work with what you have, and when your vision excedes your technology consider new gear. At the end of the day some of the best images ever made were created without 'pro-level' gear. Just look at International Pictures of the Year winning photographs taken with an iPhone...
Image from Damon Winter's “A Grunt's Life” (from nytimes.com)
To further the discussion today and hopefully help inspire you, my little droogies, I want to bring up the past. Without an appreciation for where you have been, you can't know where you are going.
We need to look at the work of the master-photographers and classic painters to better understand our own vision, how to improve it and what makes a great image. These guys (especially the renaissance painters) had an amazing vision. They worked with beautiful light and great poses/forms. An understanding and appreciation for basic art theory is vital if we are to improve our photographs enough to justify buying the Ferrari edition Hasselblad (which is frankly too gaudy for my tastes)...
Here are a few places to start your search...
Google Image Search the following...
Rembrandt Van Rijn - The man when it comes to use of light. Perhaps the best Dutch painter of all time, get to know his signature look; it is the go-to look for film and tv.
Leonardo da Vinci - Need I say more? Pay close attention to his figure drawings, studies of anatomy and basically everything he did...
Sandro Botticelli - Another Italian master.
These are just a few examples off the top of my head. A simple Google search for classic painters or something along those lines will lead to innumerable results and hours of inspiration, if you are willing to pay attention and apply these classic techniques to your own work...
Now, let us not forget to look at the master-photographers. The same technique of using the all knowing Google image search is a great place to start. Here are a few of my personal favorites that I believe are worth looking at...
Helmut Newton - He is the man if you are into portraiture i.m.o. if you care about me at all you will look at his work (caution: artful nudity)
Henri Cartier Bresson - He invented 'the decisive moment' need I say more...
Richard Avedon - Among the best portraiture photographers ever, very worth looking into.
Edward Weston - This guy made bell peppers sexy and is worth a bunch of your time.
Alfred Stieglitz - Old school and oh so good.
There are so many amazing artists and photographers out there, these are just a few of my personal favorites and some I think are worth becoming familiar with. Go to your local library or bookstore and look through the photography section. Keep books of images on hand to look through, and constantly analyze every image you come across for form, lighting and technical considerations. It is also a good idea to keep a scrap book of images you like from newspapers and magazines. I have a huge folder full of photos cut out for their use of form, posing, lighting or emotional content. Always a good thing to go back to and look at from time to time.
For me the best part of the photographic medium is that it engages both halves of the brain. There is a very technical and precise side that you must master and constantly consider, but it is a very creative medium as well and forces you too see the world in abstract ways and find beauty of form in everyday objects.
Now get out there and start looking at others work so you can improve your own. Forget about the D4 or the 10,000mp digital back, and start thinking about content.
- Taylor
image courtesy of Katie McKinnon
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