Photo books provide a curated, immersive experience that allows viewers to engage with photographs at a slower and more deliberate pace. So what happens when one challenges your perspective on your own photography?
Made by Adrian Villa, this video explores his honest reactions to one of Lee Friedlander’s books. Typically a fan, Villa found this particular collection much harder to connect with. More than simply unappealing, it felt like an affront to his own style of landscape photography. However, rather than simply dismissing the book, Villa uses his reaction as an opportunity to explore deeper questions about artistic intent, personal taste, and the value of engaging with work that doesn’t immediately resonate. Villa digs deeper into the feelings Friedlander’s work elicited, moving past seeing them as a failure to appreciate the artistic vision. He views it instead as an opportunity to refine his own understanding of what makes a “good” photograph.
Since Villa typically favors clean and simple compositions, the complexity present in this collection of Friedlander’s landscape images felt chaotic to him. Looking at this as a challenge to embrace rather than photographs to disregard, he shares his attempts as he tries out this different approach to photography.
Villa wraps up by sharing lessons he has taken away from this experience. One of them is to be playful and experiment with your photography. He discusses how experiments are good and help us with our art, even when they fail. As I wrote recently, bringing a playful mindset to bear when you’re out in the field can help you discover new elements of photography that you like – or don’t like. Check out the video for Villa’s full discussion, all of his takeaways, and how he feels work that challenges us might impact our own art.
So many great insights in this video, but the second tip, “don’t show, hint,” really stuck with me. Leaving room for imagination invites the you into the story rather than spelling everything out.
I enjoy experimenting with this concept, including in my playful “runway bride” shoot, where suggestion takes precedence over explanation (hopefully). A little mystery always makes an image more intriguing :-)
https://kisau.com/2025/03/12/sophia-sean-at-pulgas-water-temple-photosho...
Thanks for sharing!
Paul Tocatlian
Kisau Photography
www.kisau.com
That sounds like a great shoot Paul Tocatlian, and the photo you shared is wonderful! I agree, the "don't show, hint" tip is very valuable. I find it can be equally tricky to execute! How do you keep that front of mind while shooting?
This is a rather complex issue. Being open-minded can lead to growth and enable us to expand our style and vision to include new ways of seeing and capturing. But being selective and picky about how we portray scenes is what art is all about .... if we just show everything we ever see, then we have shown nothing and said nothing.
If nothing else, there may be value in closely examining images that we dislike and searching for things within the image that are appealing, even though the image as a whole may be distasteful.
Also, how we capture things depends on what our intention is. My intention is not to cause the viewer to think deeper about something, or to get them to challenge their preconceptions about nature and aesthetics. My goal is to show the viewer how beautiful nature is. To some, that may be a shallow goal ..... but that is what I feel in my heart when I see things in nature, and therefore that is what I want to express in my work.
When I see wild animals in their natural habitat, I am filled with a sense of awe and wonder and a "that is so so so so beautiful!" feeling. Hence, to express anything different than that in my photos would be disingenuous, because then my work would not be an expression of what I truly feel when I am in nature creating the images.
Great points Tom Reichner, especially when it comes to the purpose of your own photography. It's definitely important to keep in mind that how we each approach our work, and the message we're trying to convey...and that it might be very different from other photographers.
I also appreciate your point of maintaining balance between keeping focus in our own art, while exploring alternate approaches. I see value in challenging ourselves, even if it's to say "that isn't for me."
Adam,
I have thought a little more about this. The realization hit me that nature is actually very messy!
Most of us who photograph nature or wildlife or landscapes spend a lot of time searching for a pleasing composition, for a way to make an image that is not cluttered, one that has a clear subject, a focal point, and with few or no distractions to detract from that main subject. But the fact that we have to look so long and so hard to find such scenes just shows that nature is mostly a big mess.
Lee Friedlander’s images remind me of that reality, as they show a much more realistic view of what most people see most of the time when they are in nature.
Such a great point, Tom! I went out for a walk with a wider prime today, and was realizing how close I wanted to get to some trees or other subjects to simplify things. I suppose like you said, Lee Friedlander's work can really help us all appreciate the effort that most photographers (ourselves hopefully included!) put into getting those cleaner compositions!