Photography : Is there more to it, than just pictures ?

The answer is out there…

An old and wise friend of mine once told me, that life was all about meeting people. That goes for photography too. Every now and then, we hear, see, read about, or meet someone, who inspires us, and helps us take the next step. Whether you’re preparing someone’s portrait, or exhibiting your landscape photographs, or simply talking about images. In the end, it’s all about encounters. That’s why, I strongly believe, that it’s essential to open to others,to others’ tips, others’ knowledge, others’ craft, or simply, to others’ opinion. Photography is all about sharing.

Traditionally, enthusiastic photographers would get together and share in clubs, bookstore exhibitions, meetings or conferences. Nowadays, this digital age we’re living in, makes it even easier to go out and reach to others, through the web, the social medias, or simply, by watching interviews.

And so it happened, that I recently read Bruce Barnbaum’s The Art of Photography, that raised this topic about dynamic range within one of its chapters, but which I had decided to ignore, for it dealt essentially with film, whereas I was only concerned about digital.

Hinted on it again, I eventually grabbed that book a again, read that chapter and realized how wrong I was to skip it. It just simply helped me to take the next step in my own photography and in the way I visualize it. Knowing that I recently turned to Black & White photography, I can’t tell you enough, how essential that is, in one’s visualization and personal creativity.

Hence, thanks to a little curiosity and an open mind, I found a new way to improve my own photography. Photography is more than just a question of camera, lens, and features. It’s about people, and their experience with photography, whether in front or behind the camera. But the only way to find out, is to reach out for others, and be ready to give and receive. And eventually, when the right pieces come together, you’ll learn and enhance your own craft.

I can almost hear the next question that pops in your mind. The answer is no. You’re never done learning, not in photography nor in anything else. That’s, what life and photography are all about. So get out there, connect and take your images of life.

Get inspired :