Less Like a Snapshot, More Like a Poem

When I teach photography classes, I notice that there are two basic types of students. The first has an observant eye and a knack for composition, but isn’t as strong with technical details such as exposure and white balance.

The second can tell you every specification about their camera and lens, but struggles to find an interesting composition that tells a story.

For one, seeing is easy. For the other, it is not.

If I had to decide which to be born with, I would choose to be the visually perceptive person who is technically challenged. My reasoning would be that such details as aperture and shutter speed can be learned. Vision, on the other hand, is more difficult to develop. And in the end, if the picture looks good, who cares about the settings?

But that’s only half the story for me. The real hope is that my pictures would work on two levels. First, compositionally, they need to be interesting. And second, the subject of the photograph should elicit emotions from the viewer. That second part is fascinating to me because as creators we rarely have control over the interpretation of our work. We have to let go and allow the viewers decide for themselves what the photo is about.

It’s like raising children. You only have control in the beginning.