Be a better photographer - tip 9

How to make interesting photographs

My tip today is to photograph what you find interesting, in order to make interesting photographs.

Some of my tips in this series have bordered on stating the obvious, I know, but sometimes there is wisdom in a truism. This tip is no different. There is so much to occupy us in photography, from equipment to light, to compositions and processing, that it is easy to forget that we will love a photograph to the degree in which we love the subject. Sally Mann has said something to the effect that you should photograph what you love in order to make great art.

So in my customary manner I ask you a question: do you love - find interesting - what’s in your photos? Have another looks at your images. Maybe this applies to some and not others. Are you even photographing what you love at all? (When we become enamoured with gear we often forget the simple practicalities of using it. We might, for example, pursue equipment to make landscapes, because we dream of making landscapes; but in actual fact have neither the time nor opportunity to make such work).

I cannot tell you what you love. It might be cars, buildings, people, places, little details in everyday life (or, following from the modernists, the medium itself). Herein lies the subjectivity in this, and the very good reason we make work with an audience in mind. Photography is powerfully and fundamentally tied to the thing in the image.

Take the time to ask whether you still love the thing in front of your lens, and you will go a long way to retaining the spark of your own interest in what you do.

Be a better photographer - tip 8

Find the street scene, then wait for actors

In a great deal of the best street photography work there is a special relationship between the setting and the people in it. We often find ourselves marvelling at these shots because not only is the composition elegant and convincing, but there is a person in ‘just the right’ place in the frame. There is a coming together of setting and event, and in the very best this carries the extra weight of a poignant meaning as setting and actor(s) create a frisson. Henri Cartier-Bresson is one such master of this technique.

There is a simple technique you can use to make this happen in your shots (not that I’m promising you’ll immediately become a Cartier-Bresson). You simply find a setting you like, paying attention to composition and the shapes in the frame, and wait for somebody to arrive, in the right place.

In the image above, I was struck by the scene and the view through the opening (the slanting tree caught my eye), long before anybody arrived. I realised I could use this technique and wait for somebody to walk into the frame. It took several attempts to get somebody in the right position, and the right somebody, posture particularly, at that. I enjoy the way the woman’s leaning stride echoes the leaning tree. This elevates the shot from a view that catches the eye to something more.

A great technique if you’re into street photography.

Be a better photographer - tip 7

Keep on photographing in your mind

Today’s tip is to practise taking pictures all the time, even when you don’t have a camera with you. You can go through much of the process in your mind, thus sharpening your skills of seeing.

Ask yourself some questions as you go. What is the subject? Where does it start and end? Where are the edges of the frame? Do you need to be closer (or further away)? Do you need to change your perspective by crouching down, or getting higher? Is the image you see black and white or colour?

If the ‘shot’ is particularly memorable, you may want to take things a little further. Can you imagine how it would be processed? How would you make the print? What size should it be? How might it be presented?

Be a better photographer - tip 6

Buy a trip, not more gear

Should I buy more gear (probably a camera or lens) or a trip to a far-flung location? I remember pondering this once myself, and have recently been asked the question by another photographer.

There is a malady amongst photographers affectionately known as GAS, or Gear Acquisition Syndrome. Photographers, especially amateurs it seems, are inveterate shoppers. You can see the logic in this: if I don’t have a 24mm lens, pictures with a 24mm field of view I will not make. The tendrils of consumerism do their dark work, and gear research and online shopping are a fact of our photographic lives.

I will simply answer that when I plumped for far-flung location (India, actually) over the camera I was pondering, my decision proved to be a sound one. Looking back, the best possible one. Suffice it to say, I made some of my best work on that trip and cannot now conceive of trading the experience - and the shaking up of my photographic vision it provided - for a camera I may, or may not have needed, that I certainly wouldn’t have ever used in India.