Photography Ideas
What am i writing about photography you haven’t heard before? And more importantly, why?
Listen me out. Or visit my idea archives
No matter where you look there’s just a ton of content on photography, but it makes it difficult for us to ‘see the answer’ to probably 20-25 questions that make up the bulk of doubts on photography.
I will focus my thoughts on exactly two things :
Focus area 1 :Understanding the 25 things that make up most of what we amateurs know as photography
I would define it as such : After our journey, you will be able to talk decently to the top photographer in the country for a full one hour, without ever having taken a photo yourself (talk photography , not cricket : )
Is that possible? Yes it is. Because the great photographers are all about basics. They learnt photography when there was no digital camera with umpteen guidelines. Some of the ‘guidelines’ or ‘effects’ we have today emerged from the constraints of early photography. Imagine an effect like the Vignette, or the ‘Sepia tone’. Do you think the first photographer who took it did it on purpose? Many of the great photographs in the world are appreciated not because they can’t be replicated, but because of the constraints that allowed the photographer to focus only on what he could, because of the effort and time taken to capture that photograph, which itself was driven by constraints. That’s the reason why we regularly pick old movies in the top 100 movies of all times – its not because most of today’s movies are lesser technically.
The fundamentals of photography were laid before it was even born. When Leonardo Da Vinci used pillars to ‘frame’ the Mona Lisa, when the caveman with a piece of coal, drew a smiley for a smile, (because he didn’t have 3D Max?)
Paradoxically, Photography was slow as a result of constraints, and it was less complicated due to less things you could do, but it was all the more difficult due to it , and results were all the more beautiful. And those fundamentals haven’t changed. Ever.
Focus area 2 : Getting to know in five minutes, the 80 percent of photos that make up 90 percent of any stream of photography.
Meaning, if you collect all the photographs in the world under a given topic (say Children’s photography, or Fine art photography, or Night photography) almost 90 percent of photos will be very similar and consist of usually less than 100 basic compositions. And you can get those 100 photo ideas in this blog, either to avoid them or to follow them.
The upper 90 percent of technology and techniques allow photographers to take that 1% of great photos. The kind that you will never be able to take without a great deal of learning. But the remaining 99% is within your reach. Those may not be the kind that get you a Pulitzer or on the cover of Time Magazine, but they will give you a resounding sense of happiness throughout your life.
Before our journey is over, you will have found the way to reach that 99%.
Echoes from the park 