Thoughts on Photography | #1 – Seeing (1)

I recently decided that I would like to start another very short column in addition to the book reviews – and I’m calling it ‘Thoughts on Photography’. Here, I will share a few personal thoughts on photographic topics from time to time – with as little text as possible (max. 3 minutes reading time) and few example images – perhaps just one. There will be no logical or strictly sequential order to the topics. But perhaps some inspiring or even controversial thoughts over the time… we will see. Feel free to share your thoughts with me…

#1 – Seeing (1)

I’ll start right away with one of the most difficult topics: seeing. Without sight, there would be no photos. And yes, I know that there are blind photographers. But that’s a completely different story. Generally speaking, seeing is the number one skill you need to make pictures.

Seeing involves a lot of things. First of all, there’s the difference between seeing and looking. We can walk through the world with our eyes nominally open and still see nothing. Because seeing is an active, conscious, creative sub-process of photography. We look at the road so we don’t get run over by a car. But situations, light, shapes… you have to see those consciously.

And often not only that. It is relatively rare that I see a situation and can take the photo straight away. I am standing in the wrong place, the light is coming from the wrong direction, the background is not right, etc. Seeing in photography means seeing a scene as a photograph, even if it does not look like one at the moment.

In this example, I wasn’t standing where the photo was taken at first. We were on our way to a café when I suddenly saw this man standing on the beach. I was behind him, with the light coming from the right. From where I was standing, it was a very boring scene – and not a photo at all. But I saw the image in my mind’s eye, so I immediately ran down to the beach and took this photo.

So you have to see beyond what you’re looking at. Then you can show what you saw yourself and, above all, how you saw it. The rest is then a matter of reacting and acting quickly. Five minutes later, or without running, there would have been no photo.

The good news is that seeing can be learned. But it takes a lot of attention and constant practice. The bad news is that it’s not like riding a bike. You actually forget how to do it if you don’t keep practicing.

To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place…I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.

Elliott Erwitt

---

There is always light somewhere – go out and shoot!