Who and why?
Besides being an advertising, corporate, and editorial photographer for the past fifty years, prior to that I had received a BA in Journalism and was writing even before I was taking pictures; soon after I became a Black Star photoographer and shot for UPI and AP.
I have always loved telling a story photographically as well, and especially getting the viewer to do some thinking when looking at my images. I call it…“dangling a carrot”.
I have written on similar subjects where I either implied the presence of humanity. or I have talked about every picture telling a story…don’t it? What I really love doing is creating some kind of mystery in my imagery so that I can keep the viewer around as long as possible.
The viewer will perceive and process information we lay out to him in the form of a photograph. It’s in our DNA to rely on the perception of the environment that surrounds us, and visual input is a part of everyday life.
If we can make him an active participant in out thought process as it relates to photography, he’ll stay around longer looking at our photos. For me, I want the viewer to do some thinking by asking a question or to form an opinion; a very good way to keep him involved.
In the above photo, I was conducting one of my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops Houston, my hometown. As usual, there were several people that had taken both my online classes with the BPSOP.
One of the locations we shot at was the Railroad Museum in Galveston, about an hour away. I was walking through one of the passenger cars and immediately though of a way to create a visual mystery.
I took off my fedora and set it on the seat. I stepped back and created just that with my 17-40mm lens. Now it was up to the viewer to figure out why some guy left it there, and why would he have.
So, my fellow photographers, the next time you goout shooting, take a prop or two with you. You just never know when there’s a story to be told.
Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com, and check out my 2018 workshop schedule at the top of this blog. Come shoot with me sometime.
This coming July 29th will be my 30th anniversary teaching at the Maine Media Workshop. I’ve always picked this time as it’s the week of the Lobster Festival down the road in Rockland. This ofers a unique set of photo ops, different from the Maine Coast, fishing villages and lighthouses. The Lobster Festival is all about color, design, light, energy, people watchng and environmental portraits everywhere you look; some people are there in costumes and loved to be photographed.
In conjunction with The Santa Fe Workshops, on October 2nd I’ll be leading a group in San Miguel de Allende. A beautiful oasis and artist colony, and the entire city is a UNESCO site.
Come join me for a week of fun and photography…what could be better?
JoeB
