Today was the last meeting of a series of four private lessons with a photographer who contacted me because they felt creatively stuck.
Beyond a couple of techniques they weren’t familiar with, such as spot metering and tonal placement, they had a good understanding of camera operation and how the camera's functions, like aperture, shutter speed, and ISO, influence the composition of their photograph.
In other words, their compositional
toolbox already had a good range of techniques.
So, nothing technical influenced their feelings about their creativity; they just thought they weren’t as creative as they could be.
During the last meeting, they also mentioned
that before we started meeting, they thought they were missing something, and if they found out what that was, they would be a better photographer.
The only thing that helps us be better photographers creatively is our understanding of how
camera operation, composition, and light work together to create our compositions—in other words, our understanding of photography.
This photographer had a good understanding of photography.
He was facing creative difficulties
because he thought something was missing, and if he only found it, he would become a better photographer.
It’s almost as if he thought creativity was something special that only a few of us are lucky to have.
The truth is, we’re all creative, and we’re lucky that we are.
Two things usually keep us from being creative.
One, we don’t think we are.
And two, we lack the technique to express our creativity
To express our creativity with a camera, we need to understand photography.
Remember, the photographer I’ve
been working with already does.
But sometimes we feel we get stuck in a creative rut.
The trick is to
stop looking for things to photograph and start seeing.
When we see instead of look, things to photograph appear to come out of nowhere.
Another good creative exercise is to imagine whatever we see right now as a final
photograph and imagine what we do with our cameras to make the picture.
Our work isn’t to find interesting things to photograph; our job is to make the things we photograph into an interesting picture.
Remember, we’re all creative; however, technique serves creativity.
When you work with me, I can help you become a better photographer by helping you understand photography and applying techniques to express your creativity.
The Photography Basics (Introduction To Photography) group classes starts soon and It’s all about learning
technique and and expressing our creativity.
If you'd like a personalized way to learn, there's always Private Photography Lessons made to fit your schedule and way of learning that'll cover the same material you'd get during the Introduction to Photography class.
Don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or need guidance on choosing the right course.
And remember, we
learn and improve by doing, so practice making at least one picture daily.