The world around us is full of beauty in so many forms. But all too often we become wrapped up in the stress and craziness of daily life and forget to look. Eventually, we lose touch with the sense of wonder and amazement that we once possessed.
It is vital it is to find ways to nourish the creative and emotional parts of the soul. Photography is my attempt to do just that — to explore our world, reawaken those feelings and reclaim that sense of connection with nature.
This is even more important during a time when our planet needs more attention, care and nurturing than ever before.
Making versus Taking
I would rather make a photo than take a photo.
Let me elaborate. These days, everyone takes photos - we all have a camera or phone with us most of the time, and there is an endless supply of subjects around us (just look at Instagram). As the technology improves, it also becomes easier for anyone to take a technically correct photograph, with near-perfect exposure, focus and color balance. When you take a photo, you are using these tools to accurately document something around you.
But when a photographer makes a photo, he/she is attempting to do more than just document what is in front of them. The photographer is trying to express a personal, creative vision that (hopefully) evokes an emotion in the viewer. That emotion could be the same emotion the photographer felt at the time, or it could be another emotion altogether. But the key is that there is an artistic intent that supercedes simple documentation of a scene.
Photographers are fortunate today to have a wide range of technologies available to help with this process; we are no longer confined to the simple shading (burning) and lightening (dodging) tools used years ago by photographers like Ansel Adams in the past.
99% of photographs that we see today are simply taken. They are literal representations of a scene. But just like a painter, a photographer is an artist and has the ability and the tools to make a scene better express an emotion or a message.