Every Picture Tells a Story

 Every Picture Tells a Story 

As human beings, we naturally search for narratives within pictures. When we see an image, we respond with our own subjectivity, values, and experience. Photography is a powerful tool in the hands of a campaigner. We identify strongly with photographic images because we see a close representation of what we assume to be the reality. However, photography is the selective framing of an event. In one brief moment, the photographer edits both space and time. An understanding of photography can help us to make our own images, and help us make them persuasive to the viewer. 

The composition of the image is crucial to its meaning. In this case the subject is a shrouded body. We assume that the body is a dead one and we invent reasons why the subject might have died. The body might have fallen from the building in the background. Alternatively, the rocks in the foreground might have crushed the body. The subject might have drowned in the nearby sea or have been burned in an adjacent fire. The artist John Hilliard shows how the reading of the picture can be changed completely by simply moving the subject towards the top or the bottom, the left or the right of the frame. What the photographer decides to select within their frame is critical to the meaning of the image. This is because we intuitively make associations between the elements in the picture, and this depends upon their arrangement within the frame. 

What makes picture work?

1. What are the things you like about photography? Do you love the moment of seeing the images in prints or on your screen? Is it the challenge of making the photo? Is it the sharing the images with your friends? Is it the memories you get when you look at your photos later? Whatever it is you like about taking pictures, write it down.
2. What you want to achieve with photography. Do you want to remember what your kids are like at each stage of their growing up? Do you like flowers or architecture or mountains and want to document them? Do you want to show the human condition? Do you want to pursue a career in photography? Write down what you want your photography to do.
3. What subjects you want to shoot? Flowers, dogs, kids, models, food, people's feet, whatever. Write down those things you find catch your eye or make you wish you had your camera when you see it.
4. How you feel about those subjects. Do you love it, hate it, feel afraid of it, laugh at it, wish it was yours? This is actually the most important section of the lesson. When you understand what you feel towards something, you'll find your photography of it improves automatically.

Now grab your pen and puke. Once you're done, put it on the wall, throw it into your camera bag or put it somewhere you can easily review it. Add or change it as you grow as a photographer. But once you have the list, you have a great tool to make your photography better.

Let's look at some pictures. 

The most used lesson in artistic composition is the rule of thirds. While there are lots of ways to compose pictures, this short cut always makes an image more interesting than most where the subject is dead center. If you're shooting a close up of a person's face or other object, putting it in the center is the thing to do. But, if you have a picture with a person in the center and lots of scenery around him or her - well, it could be improved.

Exercise: Take a piece of paper and draw two horizontal lines dividing the paper into thirds.

Draw two vertical lines again diving the paper into thirds.

Pictures that show rule of thirds

Here are some specifics for the iPhone

Here are some exercises 

For Monday:
Choose 5-7 pictures that you like from either the link I provided or another site and use them to think about what kind of photography you like. Puke about it. Then take some time this weekend to do these two exercises. 

Exercise 1: Two Dozen

Pick a location. Stand in one spot and make 24 unique photographs while standing in the same place. You cannot move your feet but you can turn around. 

Exercise 2: Ten of One

Take 10 unique and/or abstract photographs of 1 small subject.