Photography

One of the joys of going through a photographer’s work is seeing how unique their vision was. It’s not just about a “great photo,” but the way they cropped the image, the way they used contrast and lighting, and the way they blurred the image or made it crisp and sharp.

A photographer like Ansel Adams, for example, captured crystal clear scenes of nature at places such as Yosemite Park. The photographs he took drew your eye across all corners of the image. Even though the photographs are a snapshot in time, they appear timeless.

There are all types of photography including color, black and white, and the subjects can range from nature, landscape, portrait, to every day scenes in the city. I like black and white photography the most, since it gives a more abstract quality to the image.

Because nature is full of color, black and white photography captures its essence: the forms and patterns, as well as the negative and positive space. It’s like seeing a hidden world–a hidden landscape. It reduces the image down to its essentials–to shape and form.

Taking photographs is fun when you’re sightseeing or hiking through the woods. It’s an exhilarating feeling when you’re searching for interesting visuals in things such as insects, plants, or the way a lake or river reflects the sunlight.

Unlike drawing or painting, where the image has to be created with each line or brushstroke, photography is more about capturing something you uniquely see–of perceiving things not as they are, but what underlies them.