Outdoor Photographer & Writer in Northern Ireland

Articles

The nature of photography.

What makes a good photograph? Sometimes it is worth reconsidering this question from time to time. However, in thinking about the answer another question arises? What is a photograph?

Literally speaking a photograph is a record of photons striking a recording medium. Originally this was silver halide although these days it is much more common to use digital sensors. Controlling how photons (or perhaps rather, which photons) strike the sensor is fundamentally a technical discipline. Too many photons, for example, means the image is too bright, but we have multiple ways of controlling the amount of light we record, each giving a different result. For example, a small lens aperture allows a large depth of field while a very fast shutter speed freezes motion - both of these are ways of limiting the amount of light that strikes the sensor yet they have very different effects.

Mastery of the technical aspects of photography is clearly necessary in order to be able to achieve a desired effect, but we still aren't there, we still haven't nailed everything that is needed for a good photograph. So far we have only considered the actual technicalities of capturing the light, but we haven't considered the source of the light - the SUBJECT. Here is where we start to enter into the realm of art and subjectivity. For most people the subject of a photograph is the first thing they identify, whether it be a beautiful model or a lighthouse in a storm. As photographers it is our task to place the subject in a composition that draws attention to those details that we identify as important and away from those that are distracting. My own field of interest is landscapes and here we have some very useful rules by which we can arrange our composition. The most notable of these is the Rule of Thirds - put simply, this says that the subject should lie on the intersection of 2 lines drawn one third into the frame (either top/bottom or left/right). This rule has been used throughout the history of art and relates to the Golden Ratio described by Fibonacci number theory (rings a bell? Think the Da Vinci Code!). That isn't the whole story though, we also need to think about how the eye is drawn round the image using leading lines and maintain a balance of the different compositional elements. By balance I am referring to ensuring that, for example, a large dominant mid-ground element does not fix the eye and prevent it from travelling on towards the main subject.

Hey I think we might be getting somewhere here now, but we aren't there yet! We've got the technical aspects nailed and we know how to place the subject, but lets not forget that there is one huge variable left that we haven't considered! There is a great quote from Jack Dykinga (Dykinga Photography) which goes something like "Concentrate on equipment and you'll take technically good photographs. Concentrate on seeing the light's magic colours and your images will stir the soul". Light is of course what photography is all about!

You have probably read many comments about "bad light" when someone is offering criticism of a photograph and this is often taken to mean that some light is good and some is bad ... but this really isn't the case. What is really meant (or should be meant!) is that the light was wrong for that particular photograph ... it may have been perfect for a different photograph.

Putting all this together; technique, subject, composition and control (or appreciation) of light, is what the practised photographer does to produce those soul stirring images that Jack Dykinga refers to. Of course, if you put 100 accomplished photographers in a location at the same time you won't get 100 identical images (think of Ansel Adams who often photographed in a group and yet produced image of a different class entirely). A good photograph has something extra and I would suggest that it is the vision of the photographer and meaning behind the image. The following image of a canoeist at dusk raises so many thoughts and questions in the viewers mind; how calm and serene the scene is, where the canoeist has been and where is he going to? Exactly the same thoughts that were going through my mind as I made the photograph. This to me is the essence of a good photograph - a message is conveyed to the viewer, the mind and soul are stirred.



So those of you with a good memory will remember that this entry had the sub headline of "A different way of seeing?" Well for many months now I have been going out without my camera. I had begun to feel like I was seeing things too much from the technical or compositional viewpoint. I was looking at rocks and thinking "good foreground interest" or at the curve of a beach and thinking "leading lines". I wanted to start really seeing things without the technical constraints of wide-angle lens or graduated filters. Recently though, things took an even more dramatic turn. I had the privilege of spending a week in the Lake District with a company called Woodsmoke. The course I was attending was an introduction to wilderness living skills and covered topics such as food, fire, water and shelter. It was a truly enjoyable week, but as my train pulled out of Windermere station I suddenly realised how differently I was looking at the landscape through the train window. Where I previously saw trees, now I saw sycamore, beech and alder. Where I once saw red berries I now looked more closely to see that 'yes, that's a hawthorn and I can eat those'. Where once I saw nettles and thought of the pain I felt as a child when I fell into a nettle patch while wearing shorts, I now saw both food and a source of natural cordage.

Things didn't change when I got home either. Wandering through some local wooded areas I found myself walking much more slowly and rather than looking at the ground and into the distance I was looking around and up. I was stopping to look at the details, the small plants low down and the leaves of the trees above me and thanks to a bit of foraging I've had the best blackberry and apple crumble I have ever had and started my Christmas preparations with the production of Sloe Gin ... but I haven't taken many photographs!

So I am definitely seeing things differently now ... all I have to do is capture that vision in photographs ... almost sounds easy doesn't it?

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