A few months back, I was leading a local, Austin Photowalk, on “Urban Photography”, sponsored by a well-known, high-profile, camera retail store.
I brought the enthusiastic group, of about 20+ snappers, to a place, on the Eastside of Austin, that always inspired me, photographically.
Upon arrival, I clearly noticed the look of puzzlement on most of their faces. WTF?
“What the hell are we supposed to shoot here” was the look I was getting back? I’ve seen this look many, many times before.
The environment, by design and choice, wasn’t pretty, wasn’t typical, and wasn’t especially photogenic.
I told them to lean into the quote by renowned American urban photographer Garry Winogrand, “Photography is not about the thing photographed. It’s about how that thing looks photographed”.
I told them, as I do all my students…. look closer, look deeper, shoot what attracts you, be curious, and connect to the emotional experience of being a photographer.
A few months after this experience, I was leading, still, another Photowalk, but this one on “Landscape Photography”.
I brought them, at sunset, to the Stevie Ray Vaughn statue, along the river, overlooking the Austin skyline. It was a spectacular scene with optimal light and the skyline reflecting off the River surface.
This scene, quite unlike the previous, above-scene I described, was stereotypical and what I would consider classic.
It’s the kind of scene that most, even beginner photographers, would know what to do upon arrival. Click.
It was archetypal.
Driving home, after the second experience, it dawned on me that beginner photographers want you to tell them, specifically and exactly, what to shoot, where to shoot, how to shoot, even when to shoot.
Once you do that, they line up, in a row, many of them with long-glass and dedicated cameras, as well as iPhone cameras for seconds, and, pretty much, shoot the same damn thing. Click. They are happy.
Photography of predictable subjects, scenes, and scenarios is easy.
Photography is unpredictable subjects, scenes, and scenarios are way harder.
This is because, for the most part, we have trained our photographic brain and eyes to see more traditional subjects through our collective lenses.
I don’t want to appear to be diminishing or devaluing traditional subjects.
I shoot plenty of these myself. But the world is way bigger than traditional photo subjects, scenes, and scenarios.
Once you get beyond the expected, the formulaic, the obvious, and the unsurprising, you enter into territory seldom trodden by many photographers.
I would be most happy to never have to be in a photographer line-up again. Yawn? Been there, done that.
It’s not my thing.
I want to explore, with my cameras, the nuances and subtleties that truly tickle my yearnings and photographic longings.
For is this space, and only this space, magic truly lives.
Click.
Jack
