Just Looking. . .

Fire on the Mountain!

GA Hwy. 136 at Burnt Mountain Road,

Pickens County, Georgia

Photography is both an art and a tool. You can do all kinds of things with photography, and as a long-time commercial photographer I've been involved in many of those uses. Yet, with all due respect for its other aspects and uses, the photography that most interests me is just looking: the art of observing and exploring the things I see as I go through life and documenting them to share with others or simply to revisit for my own enjoyment.

The very great Elliott Erwitt was an extremely successful commercial photographer, but it's his personal work for which he is best known.  In that regard, we share the same philosophy:

“It's just seeing - at least the photography I care about. You either see or you don't see. The rest is academic. Anyone can learn how to develop.”

Clinging to Life

GA Hwy. 22 at Covered Bridge Road

Oglethorpe County, Georgia

In this sense, the observant photographer is like a little boy who finds something interesting and wants to tell everyone about it. He runs to his friends shouting "Hey, look what I found!"

Others may have different ideas, of course, but to me, that's the art at the heart of photography.

Hey! Look what I found!

Praying Tree

GA Hwy. 262, Decatur County, Georgia

 

Rise of the Swamp Monster

GA Hwy. 201, Whitfield County, Georgia

Air Mail

Cavender Creek Road

Lumpkin County, Georgia

 All photos are from my book Georgia: A Backroads Portrait.