Soul

February 3, 2007

There are a lot of things that quickly get annoying in this job. You get used to some of it, like walking through a crowd at a sporting event and hearing people whispering, “Look at that lens!” or “Look at the size of that lens!” or “Now THAT’S a lens!”

Then there are the junior high school kids of the world who leap around spastically in front of the camera, shouting, “Take my picture!!” and, “What TV channel is this for?”

Far worse than the lens whisperers and spastic leapers are the photo geeks. These are the people who would rather talk megapixels and technique that actually take a photograph. And they usually what to talk at the exact moment that some great photographic moment is unfolding right in front of me.

Let me say right here: I am very approachable and enjoy meeting other photographers. Please do introduce yourself and let’s talk shop. It’s just that there is a time and a place for that and it’s when there’s a break in the action or the shoot is over.

A photo geek is a photographer whose mind is more focused on equipment, settings, and the so-called rules of photography. You want to be a successful photographer? Learn those rules and start breaking them left and right.

Start doing things that don’t make sense. Take your camera off the tripod. Shoot in the dark without a flash. Move in too close or back up too far. Shoot at a slow shutter speed. Shoot without looking through the viewfinder.

In short, make mistakes. Do things the wrong way. Test those rules that everyone is trying to force onto you and figure out which ones really matter.

A good photo is more than perfect technique. There is something more important than sharpness and proper focus and having the sun behind you. And that is the soul of a photograph.

All of your perfect technique will do nothing to grab your audience if your photos have no soul.

This post first appeared here.

Posted by trent | Filed Under On Assignment, Photographs, Trent 

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