Photography Insights and Techniques

One might ask what photography is. What is the purpose of taking a photograph? For some, just a simple snap shot will do but, for others, there is more of a destiny to experience in the photograph. Photography captures a split second in time or, simply put, a moment captured in a blink of an eye. Photographers create illusions of realism which resembles the existent world with content and form that are inseparable. In effect, the photographer has generated a story all their own. 

Photography is made from anything perceived. Seeing is believing when the moment is captured on film regardless of the subject matter. No matter how many pictures are taken of the same subject by different individuals, the photographs will never be the same “style” because the subject is in the eye of the beholder. For example, you may like that shiny red 57’ Chevy in the front of the coffee shop, so you take a photograph. Your friend loves the seat in front of the coffee shop window with the reflection of the 57’ Chevy in the glass. There are two distinctly separate shots of the same subject but, emotionally, they are very different images. No two artists are identical and different viewers will never see the same photograph in the same manner. Photographs generate a mood that creates an emotion and they can be background or landscapes or nothing but a mere rust spot with texture. 

Photography not only captures that instantaneous moment in time but also captures a visual reality. Photography, when it was first invented, was used to represent the world accurately with little room or depiction of artistic ability. Thus, the photographer could have been anyone in the crowd, and that person brought forth the way things looked at the time—showing the world what is to be perceived.