The Study of Photography

Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash

I was speaking to a fellow amateur photographer, who was telling me that they did not take as many pictures as they would have liked in 2023.  They felt that they were not advancing in their photographic journey.  I have long held that you do not have to take a picture to improve your photography.

There are many aspects to learning photography, and not everything can be picked up with a camera in hand.  For example I am a better photographer because of my darkroom experience.  I understand how to visualize the final product and the importance of getting it right in camera.  A wonderfully composed and properly exposed negative makes the art of photography easier and more fun. If I dont get it right in camera, I will spend ten times longer getting it right in the darkroom and may still fail.

So you see, photograhy is a skilset that must be arrived at through practice, study and through active particiapation in art.  Without one of these key elements, a photographer will be limited by their own talent.  While for some people this is no real limit at all, in my case, I must rely on building my skill set. 

So yes, my friend may have a point that her photographic journey did not advance much this year, but she cannot blame it on a lack of picture taking. Going to an art museum and really working to understand what the artists are trying to convey is what I call "active participation in art".  It teaches you something that you can bring back to your own camera work.

You can also pick up a book and study the photography of the masters.  They have spent their lives in careful study of this art form. They have so much to teach us but we need to pick up the books and read. 

Consider a lesson I am learning from Diana Arbus who turned her camera lens to “freaks” because she viewed them as special.  She argued that people live their whole lives hoping to avoid the tramatic events, but freaks are born with their trama. They have alreay passed their test, they are aristocrats.  They fill us with shame and awe. 

In a few simple lines, this photographer captures what draws our eye when we see a freak. She did not come about this quickly or easily, but rather through introspectrum into her own motiviation and art.  And hence we walk away with a better understanding of our world. And this makes us better photographers.

Take another line of hers, “ there’s a certain point between what you want people ot know about you and what you can’t help them knowing about you”….we live balancing that point. Our fear of the all seeing eye of the camera, is that we cannot control what people see so that point becomes harder to manage. Again, amazing insight that can only be found through study.

So while, picking up a camera and practicing with it is critical to develop photographic skills, it is also important to open up books on the masters of photography and learn through study.  Grab a picture, and do a personal deep dive. What pulls you into it, what was the photographer wanting to convey?  How would I have taken this shot?