New blog entry - Seeing with a liberated eye
Just a heads up about a new blog entry I have posted that might be of interest.
For a long time, I felt that the way that I was looking at photos (whether my own or others) was heavily influenced by years of ingrained compositional rules. I found myself using such rules to justify why I should like an image or not, which is a ludicrous approach.
I now find myself using a much more intuitive method for appraising work - the one used by the most novice on photographers.
https://www.alanbrownphotography.com/blog/seeing-with-a-liberated-eye
Check it out if you wish. Whether a pure novice or seasoned veteran I'd love to hear your own impression of this. Do you ever question WHY you like certain images, and do you feel your knowledge of photography overly bias analysis?
This is a very personal viewpoint, so let me know if you feel I am wide of the mark.
7 Comments
Really good blog post, Alan. I was thrilled you touched on the subject - and I appreciated it too. I think it's very appropriate right now in the world of photography! Glad to see you're back at blogging again. I check every morning for something new.
Thanks so much PG. It is always a joy to review your thoughtful feedback - that means a lot to me.
I appreciate your reference to ‘innocence’ in photography and may have to use similar phrasing myself :-)
I would be interested to hear if you’ve tried switching off and reacting to the emotion of an image, or perhaps you have always done so.
Hello Alan! Yes, my first reaction has always been an emotional one. It's the story or mood in an image I catch before anything technical even registers. After that initial connection, then I’ll start to what is making the story tell well (or not so well) - composition, lighting, and so on. I'd love to hear what others in the group think about this topic as well. I suspect we are mostly on the "liberated eye" side since, well, we are part of the Minimalism, Abstract, Experimental, (and more ...) group! I know that's why I enjoy this group so much.
Thanks PG, that is really helpful. I suspect that I have been over-analytical over the years (due to early camera club experiences?), so changing the way I view work has been a conscious shift for me.
I think my experience might explain how people see art in different ways. I'll be intrigued to hear the experiences of other members
Very nice writing. I have thought for a long time that an image must have an emotional impact on us as the photographer long before it has an emotional impact on the viewer. It's also a reason why it's so difficult for photographers to sell enough work to feed their addiction. Working this way will cause the artist to move away from the location of the moment and making work that looks like it was formed in an industrial image machine... and quite a lot of them do. BTW, I do really like the image at the head of the article. It breaks every rule that I learned in art school, but feeds the one rule it needs to feed; it speaks to me.
Thanks for you input Nathan. Your point is well taken - it can be difficult to satisfy your own requirements (interest/emotion) whilst feeding that to an audience.
Personally, I have learned to satisfy my own needs and accept that others may react differently.
Words from "A Garden Party" by Ricky Nelson, "you can't please everyone so you might as well please yourself".