The Ability to Notice Things

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"Pencil of Light," from my limited Edition

book Georgia: A Backroads Portrait

 

 In my previous post I wrote that I believe the most important ability in photography is the ability to notice things. That was a paraphrase of a quote by Elliott Erwitt, who actually said " All the technique in the world doesn't compensate for the inability to notice things." 

Oh well. Close enough for government work.

Another favorite quote is by the English essayist Roger Bacon, a quote that the great documentary photographer Dorothea Lange kept posted on her darkroom door: "The contemplation of things as they are, without error or confusion, without substitution or imposture, is in itself a nobler thing than a whole harvest of invention."

Erwitt also said “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.”

I don't have Erwitt's ability to notice things; in fact I doubt if anyone has ever matched him in that ability. But I do try to keep my eyes open, and sometimes I score. Another applicable quote (author unknown): "Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn now and then."

In the photograph above, which I call "Pencil of Light," the setting sun casts a beam through a narrow gap between two hills and across my neighbor's pasture in McLemore Cove. I noticed it and caught the moment with a Pentax 6x7 camera, 105mm f2.4 Takumar lens, and Fujicrome 100 film. I believe the Pentax 6x7, by the way, gave me the highest percentage of "keepers" of any camera I've ever used. 

My son and daughter-in-law have a 60x40-inch print of this photo hanging in their great room.

Photograph and text copyright 2021, David B.Jenkins

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday each week.

Soli Gloria Deo

For the glory of God alone

Tags: photography, Dave Jenkins, David B. Jenkins, Elliott Erwitt, Dorothea Lange, Roger Bacon, McLemore Cove, Pentax 6x7 camera, Takumar lens, Fujichrome film