The Ability to Notice

Four women of Vernazza

 

"(Photography) is about reacting to what you see, hopefully, without preconception. You can find pictures anywhere. It's simply about noticing things and organizing them. You just have to care about what's around you and have a concern with humanity and the human comedy."  Elliott Erwitt

Erwitt, whom I consider to have been the best photographer of the 20th Century and who is, amazingly, still active in his 90s, also said"All the technique in the world doesn't compensate for the inability to notice things."

Photography, of course, has many aspects. There's commercial photography, a field in which Erwitt and I both made our livings by making photographs to a client's specifications. But while I was merely a journeyman, he was among the very elite, commanding large fees. There's also journalistic photography, architectural photography, portraiture, art photography -- Erwitt was the master of them all. But his real love was spontaneous, candid "snaps," as he called them, of life on the wing. Today, prints of his "snaps" sell for $4,000 and up and have been made into more than 20 books.

As a photographer I'm far from being anywhere near Erwitt's class. But one thing I have learned from him and would hope to impart to you is simply to notice things.

With so much photoblog space these days devoted to technique and equipment, there's little discussion of what photography is really about. Equipment can be purchased and technique can be learned, but the ability to notice things takes dedication and practice. Keep your eyes open and your camera ready.

(This post originally appeared, with a different picture, on September 10. 2021.) 

If you like my photographs, you can see more of them in my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  Looking is free, and, who knows? You might find something you want to keep.

The second edition of my book, Backroads and Byways of Georgia will be released in June, 2023. 

Photograph and text copyright 2023 David B.Jenkins.

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.