Really! Now that you've told us how you feel, why not tell us what you
believe.
1. Photography is all about manipulating light.
2. Light follows rules. It never strays.
3. Our eyes catch light. They do this according to certain rules. Barring
disease, they never stray.
4. Our minds interpret the light our eyes catch. Much of this happens
according to specific rules. This is why optical illusions work.
There are, therefore, some rules in photography that you must obey.
A photographer who doesn't know the rules of light and the rules of his
light bending tools is like the painter who doesn't know how to mix pigments
and doesn't know or understand how to use different brushes.
A photographer who doesn't know the rules of light and the rules of his
light bending tools is like the philosopher who has no vocabulary and
doesn't know or understand the rules of syntax.
There are rules in music. Certain notes played together are said to be
harmonious, others are said to be dissident. The listener doesn't have to
consciously know the rules to judge this. It's universal and cross cultural.
It's a rule and it can and is expressed mathematically. Certain tonal
sequences evoke different feelings as notes in major keys vs. notes in minor
keys. Even rhythm can be somewhat smooth or it can be syncopated, halting.
These all happen according to rules.
Now, when you break the rules, usually ugly things happen, but, occasionally
broken rules can evoke different scenes and feelings in the mind of the
listener or viewer, but every master in every art studied the rules before
he broke them. (Or perhaps in isolation he learned them himself the hard
way.) Because of this, the "artist" can manipulate the rules to his end in a
manner he can envision because he has studied the rules and is familiar with
the effects.
This is why it's a good idea to take photography classes and/or study under
a master if you want to be proficient as a photographer or photographic
artist. This is why there is an Imaging and Photographic Technology
department at the
School of Photographic Arts and Sciences at RIT!
This is why Professor Andrew Davidhazy has a post there - to help folks
learn the rules of "painting with light."
Regards,
Bob Blakely
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"A mother takes twenty years to make a man of her boy,
and another woman makes a fool of him in twenty minutes."
- Robert Frost
----- Original Message -----
From: Tim Mulholland, Illuminata Photo
I don't feel that photography has rules... However, many photographers
have rules, it seems...
I feel that there's a point in any maturation (and, development
psychologists
have supportive research regarding human development) - whether that
maturation is a skill, a craft, a relationship, your own personality -
where you
start with rules as way to order your learning, to learn in a "safe"
manner (as
contrasted with running before you can walk, and therefore really skinning
your knees very nicely). If you choose to make further progress, then you
learn the basis for those rules, the underpinnings, etc. And, at some
point
after you learn those underpinnings and more theory, and you wish to
continue your mastery, then you learn that the rules do and did have a
place
in your learning, but they don't necessarily have to always confine you as
you mature even further...
I hope... ;)
