Communication

It has been said a “Picture worth a thousand words.” how can I get my photos to be that chatty? Communicating should be intentional, direct, tactful, transparent, considerate and kind. How is this possible in photography? Well, let us take a look at some examples.

I was recently watching a movie based on a historic event and during the movie I was amazed to see the detail and clarity with which the director communicated the points of history as the events occurred. It drew me in and kept showing one key issue, leaving the others minor. To draw out a point in the same way it is important to ask questions and answer them with observable facts.

Here is an example of what I mean by “communication”: How does a film director communicate the difference between the camera’s view and a cast member’s point of view? This is not a question I want to answer for you, but more of a question for you to ponder, to answer and add to your skill set. I have rolled this question around in my mind for some time and I have concluded that I can find new methods to experiment with as I see other techniques used.

How can I take these principles and add them to my still photography? After the shot type is selected, planning the scene is important. Is the person looking through the camera’s field of view watching someone through a window? Is this person hiding from someone? Could there be a hand, arm or feet seen in the shot from whose perspective the camera captures the scene?

This is a wise open realm to be explored. Not every attempt has to be perfect and you can certainly learn from your own photographs as well as you can from another’s, so enjoy and get some experience!

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Objective Photography

Objective photography is my term for how I explore the crater bottom of “sans creativity” and climb back out again.

Choosing an object and looking for all variations possible to find whether they are only observable or tangible:

• By observable, I mean seeing the shape or design made by shadows or form. Sometimes shapes are formed when we look at things in two dimensions and when viewed from the perspective of the third dimension it appears nothing like how we first observed the shape.
• Tangible – an object that can be handled and does not depend on a certain perspective to remain the observed form.

Example: The famous painter “Thomas Kinkade” always creates the letter “N” in every painting. I understand that “N” is the starting letter of his wife’s name and so to honor and amuse her, he hides it in every work for her to find. Sometimes he paints it in plain sight such as on a house (thus my use of “tangible”) or by shadow, object movement and the like (again my use of “observable”).

So, what is “objective photography”? A slide show of motor vehicles is a small illustration of how you can take an object or subject and explore the possibilities.

It does not even have to be a narrow topic, such as “motor vehicles”. Vehicles in general is just fine and leaves a greater opportunity for all types of vehicles. For example some types of vehicles can be:

• Bicycles (recumbent, mountain bike, road bike, hybrids and scooters)
• Shoes (sandals, dress, casual, sports, roller skates/blades, ski boots, etc.)
• Airplanes (paper, balsa wood, project flyer, Cessna and Passenger airliners)
• Motor vehicles (street legal, mass production, go-carts, gold carts, etc)

Have some fun and play around with the topic by using common phrases like “That cracker is only a vehicle to eat more peanut butter.”

You do no have to keep using the same technique for each photo. The photos of the vehicles above, were taken in time-lapse and the only added light is from other vehicles driving by and a flash light (mentioned in the article “Insider tips”). In fact, there are many different techniques that photographers have used and discovered which can change the feel and message of a photo in an instant.

Remember, this is designed to give you some rest from your normal style of photography. So kick back and enjoy a photographic “stay-cation”!