Thursday, December 18, 2008

Don't Think - Just Do it!

Photography is art. It is abstract. It is a passion.

An image should convey your passion, interest and excitement. If you are not shooting with this in mind you will struggle to produce images that make people go 'Wow!'.

You can get your images perfectly sharp with a text book histogram but it your images do not contain elements that excite you they will probably also not excite your viewers. In order to make better images shoot with feeling. Shoot with passion.

Ansel Adams said "There is nothing worse than a sharp photograph of a fuzzy idea."

Think before you shoot. Feel before you shoot. Don't click the shutter at a scene purely because it has been done before or you think it might look good as a photograph. You need to know. If your images don't 'talk' to you they probably won't 'talk' to other people either.

Technical knowledge is important but it should never get in the way of shooting what excites you. Ken Rockwell says on his site "Worrying about manual exposure settings and technique distracts you from your passion, just as if your lover were to stop to answer the phone in the middle of a steamy one-on-one. You need to worry about seeing, feeling, composition and lighting, NOT about f/stops as you start out."


Many people still believe that buying a newer, better camera will automatically help them produce better images. People make photographs, not cameras. A good photographer can make brilliant images with a very basic camera while many people with very fancy and expensive cameras fail to produce striking images as they lack passion and vision.

Here are two if the images that got me quite excited the last two days.


Fantastic build up of clouds over Tlou Dam in the Madikwe Game Reserve.

The front paw of a very large male lion that produces the tracks we spend endless morning walking after.

It might not always be the obvious, but shoot what excites you. Don't think about it, just do it!

As always I look forward to hearing from you!

Until next time.

Gerry

3 comments:

ellespot said...

great sentiment! I think I will Just do it!
lots of good news coming your way soon about just doing it ;) Alex is a go
cheers

Anonymous said...

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Poland. I'm working on my M.A. thesis about people in South Africa.
And I would like to know what do you think and what are your feelings
about life in SA :) Would you help me? Please :)
Below is link to my survey if you want help me, thank you!
The survey will take no more than 10 minutes of your time.

http://www.questionpro.com/akira/TakeSurvey?id=1118725

Anonymous said...

""It might not always be the obvious, but shoot what excites you."" So well said and an awsome picture.