Beauty and mystery, the essence of photography. Sunset at the chapel, Nigeria.
Are we photographers or camera operators?
There is a distinction. We may be skilled at using our cameras, lenses, and lighting equipment. And we should be. But does that make us photographers? Only in the technical sense.
Because photography is not about us. It's about the subject.
If we've been reading equipment reviews, many (maybe most) blogs, and watching YouTube videos, we might be forgiven for thinking that photography is about the equipment. But sorry, photography is not about the equipment, even though equipment is essential for creating photographs. Nor is it about our skill in using these tools.
Others tell us that photography is about expressing ourselves, and certainly it can be that. But not in the way we think
Contrary to what most of us have been taught, photography is not an art of self-expression. Photography is above all others the art of self-effacement. Photography reaches its highest plane when we have so mastered our tools and processes that we are able to use them to take ourselves out of the way and allow the subject to speak, to reveal itself through our skill. Paradoxically, it is only then that we fully and truly expresses ourselves.
Another paradox is the fact that looking at a photograph of something is often the best way to see it. "...the camera's innate honesty...provides the photographer with a means of looking deeply into the nature of things, and presenting his subjects in terms of their basic reality. It enables him to reveal the essence of what lies before his lens with such clear insight that the beholder may find the recreated image more real and comprehensible than the actual object." (Edward Weston, "Seeing Photographically," The Complete Photographer, January, 1943.)
Chicago buildings. What else do you see?
Our work as photographers is to isolate and clarify so that others may through us see the things that are around them. Our expensive equipment and our skill at using the processes of photography are enjoyable in themselves, but are ultimately pointless unless they become the channels through which we empower our subject to reveal the essence of itself.
This post was adapted from my article The Three Stages of Photography, which appeared in the December, 1999 issue of Rangefinder Magazine.
About the equipment: Both photos were made with an Olympus OM2n camera and Fujichrome 100 film. A Tokina 100-300 f4 lens was used for the Nigerian photo, and probably an Olympus Zuiko 24mm f2.8 lens for the Chicago skyline.
Blog Note: Sorry this post is a day late. I had computer problems.
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Photography and text copyright 2024 David B.Jenkins.
I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.
And again today, Dave....thank you for such insightful powerful expression of your gifted art!! We are truly on the same page that most people we know., so rarely see. fleta mathews
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