| Hi Bob, I feel that your rules and many others are correct - you'll have not quarrels from me about them. ;) But, I also hope that photography is, like any form of communication and art, also about eliciting a response, and hopefully an emotional response. When I take a photo, in the back of my mind, I very likely have a great many rules in operation - the rules about light that you mention, as well as "rules" about composition, and various technical aspects about my camera, lenses, and film/sensor. And yet, when I produce a good photo, I sincerely hope that it elicits an emotion - happiness, joy, sorrow, awe, sadness, etc. And, just as frequently, with many of my best photos ("best" means elicits a great emotional response in me, and I hope in others) I may not have necessarily followed the rules because that particular photo pushes me beyond my comfort zone. A great portion of my photography learning (camping onto another thread) has been attained through taking technically competent images - but they weren't necessarily inspiring images. The emotions that they elicited was something more akin to "yuck," or "so what?". So, according to the feelings that I've expressed about the role of photography, yeah, these photos did elicit an emotion, but not the emotion that I was hoping to achieve... ;) Some of the most fun and inspiring photography that I saw this past year was taken by my then thirteen-year old son. He's aware of many of the rules of photography, and does a great job of helping me at weddings, shooting digitally over my shoulder while I'm using film, or shooting his own images during the ceremony and reception. But, last summer, while on a shooting trip/vacation, he was quite bored. I wanted to have some peace & quiet so that I could make my "beautiful, emotion-wrenching" photos, but he wanted to pester me. So, I gave him my digital camera while I worked with my film equipment. As I watched him out of the corner of my eye, happily entertaining himself, sometimes showing me his photos, his perspectives, he started to move beyond what I think of as "typical" photography behavior/style. I remember thinking at the time, "he's not following photography rules or S.O.P.s, but at least he's keeping himself busy and not bothering me" or something to that effect. But when he showed me what he had captured, I thought, "WOW! This is pretty cool stuff!" I've not tried to recreate what he did, but maybe someday I will... Oh, and out of the images that we both took that day, I felt that his were better. I was trying to test some new tools and techniques with my film cameras, and the results didn't live up to my hopes. My son also tested some new techniques and got wonderful results! In my former professional life, there were many people with whom I worked who were well respected because of their competency - these folks knew the rules, the boundaries, etc., and played well there. But, the folks who were the most exciting and the most creative were the people who knew the rules and could see beyond the rules, to find new ways of doing things because the rules, while well intended, reduced our ability to attain the desired results. The best people, I feel, are the ones who focus on the desired results, and who knew the rules well enough to figure out which rules were helpful and which rules weren't helpful... Sometimes, the desired results require that we follow the rules - and sometimes not. So, there is a place for rules, but only to the point that rules enhance, not stifle, creativity... Enjoy, Tim! Tim Mulholland Illuminata Photo Fitchburg, WI 608/628-2925 www.TimMulholland.com The most fatal illusion is the settled point of view. Since life is growth and motion, a fixed point of view kills anybody who has one. ~~ Brooks Atkinson, American drama critic, (1894-1984) |
