Every once in a while, I come across a quote that hits me right smack dab in the kisser. Loving Robert Franks images, I wanted to share one of his quotes with you and explain how it relates to my way of thinking. He once said, “When people look at my pictures I want them to feel the way they do when they want to read a line of a poem twice”.
So, how does that relate to photography? There are several ways that I can come up with that immediately resonated with me:
Imagine you’re at an opening at a photo gallery walking around all dressed up in artful clothing and drinking cheap Chardonnay or Merlot out of the wrong kind of a plastic cup. You’re walking around looking at all the images while talking to you friend about what restaurant you’re going to afterwards.
While you’re talking and walking slow, you are giving each photo a casual glance, but you stop abruptly in front of one of the prints and look at it for more than just a few seconds.
You stop because there’s something there, something that moves you, the way the image treats you with an intrinsic value and brings you into the very essence of what the photographer was trying to communicate.
Another way to keep the viewer around is to be sure to “Make not Take” pictures. When you’re at some location , don’t just walk up to your subject bring the camera up to your eye and take a photo. Think about what you’re doing if you want your photos to stand the test of time.
Take some time to walk around your subject, what is the center of interest? Take a look around the entire location you are about to shoot in. Shoot from different POV, look to see where the Sun or the source of the light is coming from. If you try to sidelight your subject you will be creating depth. Form is one of the basic Elements of Visual Design, and it refers to the three dimensional qualities of an object: height, width, and depth. In order to create the third dimension Depth, you need to sidelight the object, a.k.a., your subject.
I teach these things in my online classes with the BPSOP and also in my workshops. To master just these two ideas will bring the level of you photography what I refer to as “up a notch:”, and will undoubtedly have the viewer giving your images a second look.
Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com, and follow me on Instagram: www.instagram.com/barabanjoe. Always give my workshop schedule a second look as they occasionally come up. Come shoot with me sometime.
JoeB