Monday, August 6, 2007

Photography - some thoughts

These are some random thoughts ... and ... I've just scribbled them ... No attempt has been made to put them in a sequence ... or even to link one thoughtstream to another ... just jotted them down as as they came to my mind ...

Sometimes I wish there was a portal through which I could peek into some of my favourite photographers mind ... I have been photographying for about two years now and I already feel my observation has improved and I can visualize images from behind the camera lenses, even though I am a most ordinary amateur photographer ... I wonder what images conjured on the minds of the great masters, especially my personal favourites, Henry Cartier Bresson and Robert Frank ... I'm in awe with their images ... Both were street photographers ... I wish I could see how they visualized the streets ...

A different worldview ...
It's well known that a camera is a tool to capture what we see ... and it's also quite know [at least to every photographer], that the perspective of the world changes when we look at things from behind the lenses ... What may look dull, trite commonplace ... can be transformed into a piece of art ... A shaft of light, a shadow, a particular postioning of people ... all these fleeting moments are the key to "visual drama" ... and could make people wonder "Why coudnt I see it that way"?!!! ... Photography is about making the ordinary, extraordinary ...

Walking the extra mile, sometimes waiting hours for the right time ...
Although it's nice to make the ordinary, extraordinary ... the joy of exploring something new is always exciting. I have immense respect for people who travel to remote places and wait long hours to get a perfect shot!!! I can imagine the trill when one is successful ...

The beautiful and the bizarre ...
I guess lenses have a love affair with anything beautiful or bizzare ... It maybe said that beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder ... and whoever that beholder is and whatever his/her criterion of beauty is ... there will always be an an urge to capture it ... Same goes with anything out-of-the-ordinary ...

It's not the equipment ...
A lot depends on the person behind the lenses ... As Ansel Adams said "The single most important component of a camera is the twelve inches behind it." With the most advanced equipments now, people yet fail to capture the images that Ansel Adams managed way back in 1940's.

Your gear does matter ...
While photographic images depend a lot on the person, however a person is handicapped without proper tools ... macro or zoom lenses, tripod all have their importance ...

So the above postulate "It's not the equipment" has to be understood in proper context ... Even the best equipments would fail if the "photographic vision" is missing ... Or if everyone has the same equipment it's the person with the best visual imagination who would come up with the best images ...

Post-processing does the trick ??? ...
Post processing has a very wide and versative application ...
From correcting minor camera imperfections to widescale changes in the images ... and with the application on montages or cloning, creating something that never existed for real ...

I have seen and enjoyed all types of processed images ...
But I have to confess I cringe when I hear that proocessing is the only way to evoke emotions ... I personally think that there's enough drama in the real world ... and It's capturing the reality that stirs me ...

To continue ....

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