Deliberate photography
23rd August 2008
I never have success when I set out to make pictures of something specific. This afternoon, Dawn planted a couple of bushes in some planters that we got on sale from Smith & Hawken. They are next to our front door along with a couple of wrought-iron trellises. I thought I would take a few pictures of the entryway to show how it looks now.
I am disappointed in the pictures. But then I am always disappointed when I try to make pictures of something specific. The only photos I make that I am happy with are those that I make when I have nothing in mind and no expectations. The first blip of intention or forethought, even if it’s as simple as thinking about where the sun will be or which direction the shadows might be falling, and I might as well not even bother getting out the camera.
This isn’t the case for all photographers—maybe not even the case for many—since landscape photographers talk all the time about scouting out locations when the sun is high in the sky and coming back during the golden hours (around dusk or dawn).
But it’s the case for me. And I’m not even sure I want to try to fix it.