Friday, January 30, 2009

Fun Fotography

My English teacher used to say “Even when you know you are wrong but if your opponent can’t prove that, then you are just right!” In simple words you can’t lose if you argue correctly.

Many times in photography I find myself in similar situations. I don’t care what lenses should do, I don’t care the brightness, the haze, the overexposure, blur, focus, depth of field and this and that. I am not a science man. But if I look at a photograph and it strikes me then I can go at any length convincing people that this is, in fact, a good snap. I am a layman, I don’t want to know the technical stuff and I don’t need to. Psychologically what impression does a snap makes in my mind is much more important to me than anything else. This is also important for the photographers to know because which one’s a good pic is ultimately in the hands of the people in general and not on the ‘photo community’ people.

I believe a good photographer knows what would make a special picture and what makes a picture special. I am just concerned with the latter because most of the times, I find, when you are intently taking a shoot, you are so emotionally attached to the subject at hand, that, you are unable to give an unbiased judgment. I know that because the same happens to me with regard to poetry. When I write a poem, at that time, I just can’t accept it as one of my worst creations ever. It just appears to be right in all respects, no matter what. But wait a minute…Isn’t it because I am currently living in that feeling and very obsessed with it? Of course! This is one of the reasons, I suggest my friends to look at their photographs again after a fortnight and those which still make an impression, give them a shot.

But then in the world are people like me who want this tool to be fun while giving hard time to the professionals. After all not everyone should be a science man and also because we believe photography is simple and for everyone.

So what I do is to take random picture, from any camera or blog, and just start bullying people claiming that this is incredible piece of work and I haven’t seen anything like this before! This sounds crazy but it makes the learning process a lot simpler for me because people start telling you everything that is right and wrong and sometimes they end up teaching photography, which is supposed to be a dear profession, for free! And then they tell me am crazy! How fair is that?

So if you don’t intend to be the science man, just be the fun guy. But whatever, in the end just make sure, that you argue correctly.

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