If we view photographs regularly, we probably resonate with a type of photography done by particular photographers.
And maybe their work inspires us to do our work.
If a specific photographer's
photographs inspire us, chances are good that their words inspire us too.
A Photographer's Quote: Elliot Erwitt
"I don’t like explosions. I don’t mind progress. But digital photography has made every man, woman, child and chimpanzee a photographer of sorts and consequently has numbed down the general quality of photographs." Elliot Erwitt
Hello ,
Yeah.
I'm with Elliot
Erwit on this one.
But I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing.
I don't think it's not good that everyone's a photographer.
Personally, for a boatload of reasons, I'm glad that there's a lot of
cameras and photographers out there.
But as for the general quality of photographs, yup, I agree with Mr. Erwitt that they've been numbed down.
But maybe a more accurate phrase is dumbed down.
And the dumb part has nothing to do with the photographer using the camera.
The dumb part is the camera.
A camera doesn't think, and a camera doesn't know.
A camera is as dumb as a rock.
And yet, we allow the camera to make pictures for us.
Especially in fully automatic exposure mode.
And the result of that is the mechanization and homogenization of a creative process driven by computer
algorithms with little human creativity involved.
So it's no surprise that a lot of imagery appears to be dumbed down.
Because when we rely more on the computer algorithms in a machine (our digital camera) to compose our pictures for us instead of our minds, we lose the unique compositions that only our human minds can create by using a camera thoughtfully and intentionally.
Especially in fully manual exposure mode.
But aperture priority of shutter priority ain't too shabby either.
And remember, we learn and become better by doing, so practice making at least one picture today.
That’s all for now; thanks for reading!
Sam
Study and practice photography with me.
And if the timing doesn't work for you in any
of my scheduled group classes, we can schedule a one-time lesson or a series of in-person or online one-on-one private instruction that cover the same things as any of my group classes.
Ways to work with me are below.
