I love dance, and I’m a big fan of So You Think You Can Dance. Tonight, there was a dance by Paul and Makenzie. They are told they are probably the best technical dancers on the program, but they must move themselves above that to fill this dance with emotion. I think most art forms have these two components. There is the technical part and the emotional part.
The technical aspect of the art helps us construct the foundation and frame our art for our audience. It is important but not the most important aspect. If there is no emotion to draw our audience in, we fail. Pure and simple.
Photography can be massively technical. Many of us have some technical leanings causing us to sometimes overly geek out on the technical side of taking pictures. There are f-stops and shutter speeds and ISO and megapixels and frames per second and focus points. And that’s not enough. There are the very aspects of the physics of light: diffusion, diffraction, resolution, chromatic aberration. We can just worry ourselves sick over getting the absolute clearest and cleanest image.
I’ve been an engineer for most of my life. Science is a big part of who I am. So I understand this very well. But… We cannot become consumed by the technical parts of photography. It is so easy to be drawn into these debates, to try to put ourselves above our fellow artists, what we know, why our gear and choices are better. How smart we are.
Like Makenzie and Paul, though, we must overcome these desires. Use our technical skills, but focus on the story. Focus on the emotion. Focus on giving our audience something powerful, something that transcends the technical. For, if a viewer examines an image and says, nice catch light, this is really sharp, I can read this tiny sign! – we have failed.
I want my viewer to look speechless at my image. A tear. A gasp. A “wow!” Megapixels and the finest, most perfect lens in the world won’t do that. The technical side of the art is, frankly, easy for me. It’s easy for many. But it doesn’t make me an artist. Love, life, connection, feeling, awe. Those are the things that make me a better artist.
Learn the fundamentals. The physics of light is important to a point. But when the viewfinder is finally in front of your eye, you need to see – with your brain and with your heart.
