Am I doing something wrong?
Andrew, an online student with the BPSOP, sent me this photo with the following question. I always like to share exactly what the photographer had to say since so many of you have either asked themselves the same question or have had similar situations. Here’s what Andrew had to say:
” Dear Joe,
Sometimes I shoot the sky from my window. On the attached pictures you can the the original image with houses. Of course the houses are out of interest? so I decided to darken them. I wanted the photo looked like counter light with a “normal” sky.
When I show my photos to my friends? they say “You have a great sky but I see nothing”. Maybe they do not understand the art 🙂 or am I doing something wrong? Can you advise me on anything?
Thanks in advance
Regards,
Andrew”
Andrew, take a look at this post on “giving meaning to photos”: http://joebaraban.com/blog/giving-meaning-to-photographs/. I always share it with my online class with the BPSOP, and in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet. It will help explain why your friends said what the said. Be sure to read the part where it says that a beautiful sunset to you is just another sunset to someone else.
Before I finally click the shutter, I ask myself if the picture I’m about to make will stand the test of time. If in a year, two, three or even four, will my image still be worth keeping? Is there enough “layers of interest” to keep the viewer around longer than six seconds? Is there enough visual interest?
So Andrew, ask yourself, in you photo, besides the sky, is there enough visual interest to keep the viewer around? Will your photo stand the test of time?
Visit my website at:www.joebaraban.com, and follow me on Instagram: www.instagram.com/barabanjoe. Check out my workshop schedule at the top of this blog.come shoot with me.
JoeB
