Photography is more than pointing a camera

Yesterday, I wrote that lighting is the most essential part of photography. To continue along that line, photography is more than merely pointing your camera at a subject and pushing a button. Sometimes you can get lucky by the point and push method but to be consistently successful, that is creating art, takes more.

I’ve taught students who didn’t want to take the time to learn composition or camera operations. They wanted to instantly jump into the world of Photoshop and processing. The way of the artist, as I see it, begins with an idea or concept. To jump in and not learn the basics of photography is like wanting to build a house without knowing how to use a saw and hammer.

I often go back and re-visit basic concepts of photography just to keep them fresh in my mind. Doing so allows me to recall those basic skills without really consciously thinking about them. They become natural and automatic.