As some of you might know and hopefully read, I have a category I call “my favorite quotes”. These are quotes I’ve picked up over my forty-four year career as an advertising, corporate, and editorial photographer. Some I’ve stumbled on by accident or by reading, and some I’ve been sent by friends who are always looking out for me.
These are not necessarily quotes by famous photographers, but quotes by well-known artists in their own right. Painters, musicians, poets, and writers all share a common thread, the ability to think, see and feel with both the left and right side of their brains. From Marcel Proust to Bo Diddley, and from Bob Marley to Claude Monet, these artists share a common bond…basically, the ability to make people feel good through each of their individual artistic mediums.
One of these quotes was written by Elliott Erwitt, an adverting, corporate, and editorial photographer who at the age of eighty-six is still making his art. He once said,” Photography is an art of observation. It has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them”.
In my online class with the BPSOP, and in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshop I conduct around the world, I tell my fellow photographers that once you start seeing past your first impressions, you’re pictures will take on a different, more pronounced look. A look that will keep the viewer an active participant, and as a result will stick around longer.
So many photographers just don’t spend the time looking. They all seem to be in a hurry and as a result, they miss out on the ‘good stuff’. I teach people in my online class with the PPSOP, and in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops how to incorporate the elements of visual design and composition into their imagery, and they walk away with what I call my Artist Palette that holds these elements.
I tell my fellow photographers that there are two ways to see things: with the left side of your brain and the right side. The left side is the analytical side and that’s what Erwitt’s message means when he says photography has little to do with the things you see.
The right side of your brain is the creative side. This is where the second part of Erwitt’s quote comes into play. He finishes the quote by saying it’s everything to do with the way you see them.
I had just checked into my hotel room and as usual, the first thing I do is look out the window. What I saw is the image shown above. It was a bridge, according to the left side of my brain. However, upon closer observation, the bridge transformed into several elements of Visual Design. Here are the elements that I saw: A Vanishing Point made up of two converging lines that moved the viewer across the frame and met at a point on the horizon. I saw shapes consisting of a beautiful triangle that the converging lines created, squares made by the trestles, rectangles made by the reflections of the trestles, and lots of diamonds. There was Negative Space that defined the trestles, and patterns created by the trestles themselves. Not to be missed is the Visual Tension created by showing the bridge and its reflection…and of course an arrowhead.
This is the way I saw the bridge.
JoeB
