The Eye

I am part of a small photo group, a bunch of friends mostly from my church. We do field trips and learn together. After a recent trip to Calloway Gardens someone said "you should teach us to see pictures the way you do." Really got me thinking. Why do I see pictures when others walk by them. Guess a part of it is knowing how to see the light as it will be photographed, what a certain lens will do, and part of it from being old and looking thru a Nikon for so long.

It was so frustrating as a beginner to see a picture in my mind, and not be able to get it on film. Taking lots of pictures helps. Photographer Harry Callahan once said "To be a photographer, one must photograph. No amount of book learning, no checklist of seminars attended, can substitute for the simple act of making pictures. Experience is the best teacher of all. And for that, there are no guarantees that one will become an artist. Only the journey matters." I always knew what the first part of this quote meant. You really learn by doing, and doing. and looking at your photos to see what you did right or wrong. Then going and doing some more.

Some of us God gave an eye for a good photo. We develop this gift. We are also not afraid to be seen with our butts up in the air alongside a busy highway, or climbing up high to get a different angle, even if it doesn't work. We try and we learn, but we don't shoot all of our images from the same spot.

More on this subject at another time. The really important part of this quote is the last few lines. All of us will not be great artist, we don't have the eye, the gift, whatever. It does not matter. Do it for the fun of it. That is why we should all be taking pictures anyway. Do them for yourself. If someone else likes them, that is extra.