that is done by learning and photographing continuously, okay?
Let’s begin with the word “photography” and see how each part of its cycle fits into this definition from the Oxford American Dictionary: “the art or practice of taking and processing photographs.” It comes from two Greek words: “phos,” meaning “light,” plus “graphein,” “to write.” Put them together and you have the art of writing with light! Just as we write with words to tell stories that communicate ideas, feelings, and emotions, with photography you use light to convey those same ideas and feelings, but depending on your skill, perhaps even more deeply. Remember this derivation as you go through each stage of the cycle of photography: Step by step, you’re improving your ability to write with light and thus tell stories with your images.
Now, where does the cycle of photography start? It turns out it doesn’t start with the camera, it starts with you!
» Visualize how you intend to create your photograph
“LOOK AND THINK BEFORE OPENING THE SHUTTER. THE HEART AND MIND ARE THE TRUE LENS OF THE CAMERA.”
— YOUSUF KARSH, PHOTOGRAPHER
That leads us to the first and most important part of the photography cycle: it’s what we call visualization, or the process of forming a mental image of what you are going to photograph and how you intend it to look as an end result of all the stages of photography, that’s why it is in the center of the cycle. After all, to even pick up a camera, you had to first have some idea of what you wanted to capture, no matter how brief or vague. I will teach you how to develop your powerful sense of visualization, which in itself will make you a better photographer almost instantly!
A big part of visualization is looking at others’ work, both photography and other art forms. You get ideas from others about how they were able to tell the story with their camera or paintbrush. But it’s not good enough to look at a photograph and say, “I like this, I don’t like that.” That won’t let you into the inner workings of that image. Go deeper: if you like it, look at the image and see why you like it. Did it have an emotional impact on you, and if so, what was it?
If you don’t like it, see if you can dig in and find out why. Maybe there was something distracting about it or it had a technical flaw. Or it simply didn’t interest you.
This kind of careful looking will help you when you go out to capture your own images. You’re building a kind of visual collection in your mind from which to work.
When I was learning photography as a pre-teen and teenager, I looked at a few photographers and their books over and over, and I recommend you do, too. Google them to see their images:
Edward Weston: He is the master of capturing the beauty of forms, often everyday objects, whether a pepper, a tree or even a toilet. He also captured the form of nudes and landscapes, many times woven together in his unique and powerful way. Look at his work and you’ll see why I was so inspired by him.
Henri Cartier-Bresson: He was the master of “capturing the moment” – shooting the events of the day, whether it was a formal ball or the man on the street. He had the ability to make art out of everyday events and bring us into direct contact with them. Cartier-Bresson used a Leica, a small handheld camera.
By closely studying the work of these two master photographers, you will get some insight into two of the most prolific and popular photographers of the twentieth century, and by looking deeply, you can find out why they became that way. I also invite you to search for photographers you admire and study their work as I’ve described.
Another book of the time that I looked at often for inspiration is “The Family of Man,” which began as an exhibition and later became a book. It is a collection of 503 images by 273 photographers from 68 countries; each image tells its own story, but like pages of a book, they fit together to tell a whole story about mankind.
There were many, many other books and exhibits that inspired me, and I’m sure you have your own favorites too. These will all help you to develop your own “voice” as a photographer.
Let’s talk about how to use visualization when you go out to take a photograph. Instead of being someone who just pushes the shutter and snaps a lot of pictures (snapshots), a photographer first visualizes the image he or she wants and then goes through the steps to capture it. The moment I really learned to visualize is when I became a photographer, and it has been a lifelong love affair ever since.
The next stage of the cycle is knowing your camera and equipment. To bring to life what you have visualized, you have to know your tools and know them well. I will demystify your camera and make it an easy-to-use set of tools that will help you create the images that you love.
You might have felt intimidated when you first picked up a professional camera, it seems like there are just so many knobs, buttons, and menus and things. How could you possibly know them all? The good news is you don’t need to!
For over 100 years cameras have had only four or five key controls that you had to know how to work with. The same is mostly true today.
Let’s go back to the kitchen and imagine you were learning to cook in a well-equipped kitchen – which made your head spin with all the appliances, cooking utensils, pans – and on and on!
But let’s say you decided to watch and follow a good cook at work who made it look easy and simple. You noticed they also used the same key “tools” over and over, no matter how many dishes they cooked: They used knives to cut with, they used pots and pans of different sizes, spatulas and spoons – and hey, they seemed to do all their work with just a few key tools of the same kind! Then it really hit home that it’s simple and that you too could learn to cook!
The same is true with photography: once you learn the five or so key controls, you will simply use them over and over again, no matter what type of photograph you’re creating. When we get to that section, we’ll cover them all so that you know how to use them, then with practice, these will become instinctive for you.
When your visualization is coupled with your ability to use your camera, you will then be able to capture the image that you want, so capturing the image is a blend of those two stages, but forms its own stage in the cycle. When you go to the next stage of processing you may find you will change how you develop an image, but you must know how to expose it and capture it correctly in the first place with your camera and your other tools.
As an analogy, if you were recording music, you would need to do so in a way that captures it faithfully and clearly, so when you play it back you hear clear sounds that are harmonious with other instruments and sound pleasing. Have you ever been to a concert where you were so totally captivated with the performance, you shot video of it on your phone and played it back the next day for a friend? I doubt they had the same experience you did – your friend may have smiled weakly and tapped their foot a bit and hoped you turned it off soon!
I’m sure you’ve had the same experience with a photograph of a sunset. Standing there, you were completely surrounded by a moment so beautiful that you knew you couldn’t
