I saw a Ferris wheel, but what else did I see?
Most of you will know Johnathon Swift as the guy that wrote Gulliver’s Travels; one of the few books I read more than once. Among a much smaller crowd, he’s known for a quote he said a long time ago. A quote I have read once or twice in the past forty years as an advertising, editorial, and corporate photographer. He said, ” Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others”.
As I often tell my fellow photographers that sign up for my online classes with the BPSOP, or the ones that shoot with me in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet, use the Elements of Visual Design to help you “see past your first impressions”. If it’s a tree, then what else is it? It’s an object made up of Texture, Patterns, Form (when side lit) Shape, and most important Line. It’s about the Negative Space between the branches that are defining those leaves and branches.
Depending on the time of day, it’s about the shadow the tree creates. When shot early in the morning or late in the day when the sun is gone the tree becomes a two-dimensional silhouette against a brighter sky. It’s all these things that most people can’t see…why, because they just don’t know how to see… with the right vision.
In the above photo, the left side of my brain, the analytical side, saw a Ferris Wheel. The right side, the creative side saw motion, a circle, a triangle, patterns, lines, light, and color.
Once you learn how to see with this vision, a whole new set of photo opportunities will be at your disposal. no longer will you say that when you went out shooting, you just didn’t see anything interesting. There’s ALWAYS something interesting to shoot.
Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com, and follow me on Instagram: www.instagram.com/barabanjoe. Be sure to check out my workshop schedule, and come shoot with me.
JoeB
