Behind the Digital LensMusings of an Amateur Photographer

27th May, 2010 Appreciating what we see

Dorothea Lange said, “The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.”

In our busy, hum-drum world we often fail to really see the awesome sights around us.  And, many times, we also fail to see those sights unless we have a camera plastered to our noses or in front of our field of vision, and then we only see them when we download the images to our computer.  I can’t count how many times I’ve looked at a scene and not really “seen” it until I’ve taken a photo of it.

Having that digital camera plastered to my face over the last 10 years has made me really appreciate all the visuals that are around me, from the trash that lays in the alleyway in a run down neighborhood to the lines embedded in an elderly person’s face.  One thing about having a camera in hand…it makes you stop and “smell the roses”, as it were.

Great photography can’t be rushed.  Good photography can be rushed – a little.  Bad photography is rushed and shows it.  A patient photographer looks at every angle to see what would give the greatest expression of the scene that he’s witnessing so that his appreciation of the scene can be conveyed to the viewer of the resulting photograph that he has taken.

I know that many times I’ve thought, “I have my camera and I’m taking these great shot so that I can remember this place and time in time, but should I lower my camera and just look for a change?”  Maybe I should.  Maybe.