Does each fine art photograph have to tell a story?

I’m reminded this morning of an Ansel Adams quote, “There’s nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept”. Sometimes it is difficult to relate to the viewer what you’re attempting to convey. Sometimes, it is difficult to understand the scene yourself but realize it may be noteworthy or important. I have, on many occasions, never realized the concept of a scene until months or years later.

Over the course of time, I have become better at identifying the concept at the time I took a photograph, but many times beginning photographers have yet to learn the skill. It doesn’t mean their work is poor. One thing I believe is important to realize is that there was often a lot of time between the taking of a photograph for Ansel Adams and the final print. Just the time it took to set up his camera, to measure the light, the test shot, the final image the time spent in the darkroom developing the film, and then the final print. I would agree that it is important to take some time to set up the shot to think about what you’re photographing. I also think it is important to sit down and review the images on your screen and decide how you want the final version to look. We often have the advantage today in that we can have a variety of final versions of the same photograph.