The Secret to Making a Great Photograph
I have been making photographs for over 50 years now.
Literally half of a century.
And I have made some photographs that I like, and some photographs that other people like.
I’m OK with that.
And I have made a lot of photographs I don’t like, and even more photographs that no one has ever seen.
Because they suck.
And that is OK with me too.
You have to make photos that suck in order to find the ones that don’t suck too bad.
Eventually, those that don’t suck too bad reveal one that actually doesn’t suck.
Get enough of those non-suckers in the pipeline and you can end up with a handful that you like.
Wheat. Chaffe.
We know this.
And while the goal is to make more photographs that don’t suck versus the amount that do is one we all strive for, I fear the medium is prone to allowing us to snap off a lot of crap in searching for those elusive few that bring us some joy.
Perhaps that is just the way it should be.
Joy is what I seek with photography these days.
I was once asked why I was a photographer. — “What was your motivation,” they asked?
The only answer I can give is that I have to, I simply must.
I am compelled.
It is part of my DNA.
I am as excited about doing it today as I was as a teenager in my dad’s darkroom.
I am also equally as frustrated, challenged, struggling, learning, failing, and just generally questioning of the art as I was with my first roll of film.
Yeah, I have answered a lot of the early questions and met many of the challenges.
But meeting the challenges just means there are more to come.
And the questions never cease.
Without questions, there can be no answers. No solutions. No values actually worth the artistic endeavor.
A Quora person asked me how I ‘felt when I made a great photograph?’
My answer was as honest as I could possibly be;
“I am not sure. If I ever do make a great photograph, I will let you know.”
You see, “great” is something others bestow would upon the image. It is not something I can consciously attach to my own work.
“Great” is an external evaluation of my work and is attached to it by others. For me, it is simply my work.
Now for sure, I have seen great photographs. Many great photographs.
Of course, there are great, wonderful, awesome photographs out there.
And it is a privilege to be able to see them.
But that really has nothing to do with my work.
Or yours.
Because it is our work.
And the best way for us to do our work is to do it our way.
Not his way.
Not her way.
Not like some interweb hotshot.
Or the ‘top photographer’ in town.
Our way.
The only chance we ever have of having someone say “that photograph is great” about one of our pieces is to do it our way, with our deliberate choices. We must OWN it.
About 10 or so years ago I happened to get involved with a bunch of Flickr people all flocking around something that apparently was very ‘new and exciting’ for them… “Off Camera Flash”.
I had always referred to that endeavor as “lighting” but who was I to go against that movement that swelled to even professional lighting equipment companies referring to a strobe on a stand as OCF?
Seriously?
And I started to dabble in the style which seemed to be focused mainly on lighting over the ambient by 1–3 stops.
I didn’t really like the style of work that was being created, but it was really popular. And really easy to make images that were in the popular vernacular. It was a ‘fad’ that happily soon ran its course, but it helped me refocus my energy on what I truly wanted to do.
I had started doing workshops in my area and it seemed that is all the photographers coming wanted to learn.
“Show us how to use speedlights outside,” was the single most requested item at the workshops.
And of course, I did.
And I shot that way for a few years until it sort of dawned on me…
I was not shooting many images I liked because I was more focused on the technique than on the creation of images that felt true or authentic to me.
Before I go any further I want to clarify that I am NOT against the technique in even one tiny way. Other photographers employ the same tools and techniques and create some super good work.
Even great work.
But I am talking about MY work here… and it seemed as though I was losing track of what I wanted to do with my own photography and sacrificing my vision in order to use a technique that was “cool”.
Techniques are not your vision.
Techniques are not your style.
Techniques are not your art.
Techniques are not your statement.
It is simply a technique. A tool.
A lever in the cogs that make the work we love… and should be used ONLY to advance our vision.
I realized I hadn’t been shooting much of anything that mattered.
Not to me, not to photography.
The only images I liked were the ones where I would abandon the ‘hip’ and ‘cool’ techniques that were so ‘trendy’ and return to what I believed was my way of shooting.
My light. My way.
The stuff that worked for ME.
(And yes, there are times when I use a strobe in such a manner… but the technique does not define me. It is the appropriate tool to create the work that DOES define me.)
There will always be techniques and tools in this art, an art that demands the use of technology to create. And they will always be a fascination to those of us who use them daily.
And whether it is an old beat-up film camera or a shiny new mirrorless wizbang, it is still a tool to be used in creating our vision.
Our own vision.
Our vision must stand beside the tools, not be entrenched within them.
So here is the secret to creating a great photograph.
Make it YOUR photograph.
Put trends and “cool” up for deliberate inspection in relation to what YOU want to say. Keep what you feel is authentic, dispose of the rest.
Make sure your vision is not cloned from someone who may be popular because of THEIR vision. Their vision will never be yours, and if you clone them, your vision will always be second-rate to the original
Choose the tools that are right for you, not because they are popular or all the ‘rockstars’ use them.
Work as hard as you can to find your own voice… and go with your heart… your ‘artistic heart’ and do not let the ‘popular kids’ deter you from the work you want to do.
And after you make a lot of YOUR photographs, cull out all the ones that suck. And from that little batch of images that don’t suck there will be some gems.
And when people see them they may say;
“Hey, that’s a great photograph…”
If you say so.
Thanks.
