Thoughts on Photography | #4 – Drama (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…

#4 – Drama (1)

Today’s example could easily have been given a different title. Such as ‘image editing’… or ‘authenticity’. These titles would open up even more potential for discussion – and I’ve had these discussions a thousand times before. Here in the blog and also privately with friends or other photographers. There’s the eternal debate between ‘editing a photo’ or ‘straight out of cam’ (SOOC), for example. How far ‘can’ you go with editing? Etc.

My opinion on this has never changed. My photo is only my photo when it is shown by me (in print or digitally). And of course I edit my digital images – albeit to varying degrees. Some only very marginally, others very significantly. In principle, I did the same thing in the analogue era. Starting with the choice of film (which was rather marginal) to sometimes intensive work in the darkroom, if it was negatives (which could be rather significant).

But here in this first part, I’m not concerned with this fundamental debate, but with something else. Namely, the difference between scene (reality) and art (photography). Of course, both can be the same or almost the same. I often have these images too. But there are also moments – not so rare – when I already see a different image virtually while taking the photograph. I see my interpretation of reality, and not just a scan of it.

I would like to illustrate this with a simple example. On this wonderful evening, we were at a paella festival in a village in the south of France. While the others were already making themselves comfortable at one of the tables, I was fascinated and, as if in a trance, kept getting up to take pictures. The light, the smells, the atmosphere, everything was magical. But it wasn’t necessarily magical for direct photos of it.

However, I more or less already saw these pictures in my mind’s eye as they turned out later. And afterwards, I edited them to reflect how I experienced the scene. Like a drama in several acts.

Do you have to do it that way? No! But you can, and that’s part of what makes photography an emotional and visual art form. I show the world as I saw it.

Is the photograph more dramatic than what was photographed? It has to be!

Gary Winogrand

If you want to see all the acts of this drama, here is the link to the whole story.

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There is always light somewhere – go out and shoot!