Believe it or not, cameras are dumb machines.
WITH YOU, they have the power to capture tears, laughter, joy,
death, LIFE, history in the making, and irreplaceable moments
FROZEN in time...
But WITHOUT YOU, they are nothing more than mindless paper
weights collecting dust on the top shelf of your bedroom closet.
* * *
In other words, YOU, as the photographer,
are what brings personality into a photo.
By playing with COLOR, you are able to PAINT the mood of a
particular setting. By understanding the fragile relationship
between SHADOW & LIGHT, you are able to CHISEL and...
accentuate features onto your subjects' bodies.
As a photographer, what you CROP OUT,
is just as important as what you LEAVE IN.
And what you place OUT of focus, is just as important
as what you choose to keep IN focus.
because...
Photography is not JUST about replicating reality.
photography is storytelling.
So the next time you choose to take a PORTRAIT
photo of your friends while barking orders like,
"Lift your chin." "Look at the sky." "Pout." "Smell my finger."
Or the next time you stand in the sidelines like a sniper
waiting for the perfect moment to snap a CANDID...
Remember that the photos you take say more about YOU
than they do about the subjects in your photographs. :)
* * *
"A photograph is usually looked AT, but seldom looked INTO."
- Ansel Adams