So what makes a snapshot and what makes a masterpiece? Give up? In my humble opinion is intent among other things. Again a snapshot is a quick photo to mark a moment, a record of time or a place, to record that you were there. Whereas a masterpiece has thought behind it a meaning of where it was shot, how it was exposed and printed. A masterpiece had been planned. All the variables such as weather, time of day, placement of camera and if the film was color or not as planned leaving nothing to chance. Very rarely has a snapshot ended up on the walls of an average collector. And if it did it would have to have been an historic event that was not captured by very few if not just one person.
Let’s relate this to an everyday experience. Since most of us are photographers I would think that at least half of us had put some time in doing portrait work. I started back in 1992 in a studio called Expressly Portraits. I learned and honed my craft to the point I branched out to do weddings. Now most of us would say that the majority of time and effort goes into the portraits of the bride, groom and the rest of the wedding party. I lot myself at least two hours of shooting time to get everyone photographed. Even before I have even shot a frame, the night before at the rehearsal I look over the whole church for lighting and atmosphere to capture the important portraits. And when it comes to the reception most of the shots are quick snaps of the bride, groom and guest enjoying themselves. It would be insane to put the same time and effort into the reception
The other example, for those who don’t do weddings, is the photographs of Half Dome that Ansel Adams had created and the hundreds of thousands of photos everyone else had done. I don’t know the whole story of that photograph but I can surmise what had transpired in the creation of that photograph. In what I know of Ansel He must of watched that rock, studying it to see it’s best time and worst. He thought about the angles, exposure, lens, time of day to get the best portrait of Half Dome he could get. My guess is that he wanted to convey the majesty of the mountain and the way it affects him every time he sees it. Google it and look at all the images that he created and tell me you don’t feel the aw and beauty of that mountain? Tell me you are not the least bit motivated to see that mountain after looking at that portrait?
Now let’s compare it to everyone else’s photo. Compare it to the millions of people who venture out and take a photo of that mountain. 99% of all the photos taken of that mountain are just documenting the fact they were there. To take a picture and place it in an album or on the wall with the other family photos, a keepsake. For the most part the photograph was taken and not created. There was no study of light, angles, exposure or whether it should be color or black and white. Little to no thought was put into this photo, just a quick line up and a push of a button. Unless a UFO or some metrological event happens at the same time the shutter opens, the photo is not unique. It doesn’t have a voice or purpose other than documenting family history.
Don’t take what I say the wrong way I am not a photo snob. I love snapshot and have taken a lot of them of family, friends and my tried to pass it off as my work. But in order for myself and anyone reading this, you must think of intent when it comes to your art. I must put an intent behind my art. I used to do this with my portraits but not in all my art.
Intent is a purpose of what you are trying to convey, right? So here is the assignment; what I plan to do is find something that I believe is ugly create a pretty portrait. I have been thinking about this for a while. I plan to photograph Cedar Lake an ugly little lake surrounded by trains and an interstate but in studying it I have seen some things that make it pretty. So let us divide the assignment up in two parts. First take an photograph of the subject , a snapshot. Then take some time and study the subject and find out when it is at its best. Once you see it create the photograph. Keep notes, notes are good but until the critique is finished, not allowed. After the critique you can write your notes.
In the meantime I am creating the guidelines for a good critique so that as a group we are constructive to each of the member. I will have a post about it soon with the link to the group.
No comments:
Post a Comment