Making a Picture

Antler Post

Somewhere along my photography journey I heard the phrase, "making a picture."  Not taking a picture, not shooting a picture, but rather consciously making a picture. I guess at the time, it struck me odd, as most of us with cameras in our hands don't say that or maybe don't even think that way. But if you've been photographing long enough I think it becomes intrinsic-at least if the quality of the work is going to be there.

What I believe it means is the photographer needs to put all the elements of the picture into consideration.  Subject matter-yes, light, patterns, color, perspective and point of interest, to name a few.   Other artists do this, painters for instance, have to skillfully employ all the ingredients" in their "toolbox" if a painting is to be successful, irregardless of subject.  They (and we, as photographers) also need to figure our how to "build" a good picture.   Perhaps it's just recording something-a subject that interests us.  Or an event. A mood or feeling or emotion.  Telling a story.  There is no wrong subject. But after that, how?

Firstly, cameras don't matter in making a good picture. Period. "Wow, that's a really good picture, you must have a really expensive camera!" Ahh no. Technically, sure, some are better suited than others-long lenses for wildlife, birding, wide angle for landscapes, short zooms for portraits.  Any camera can make a good picture, it's the decisions of the person pressing the shutter that are vastly more important.  When am I gonna have good light?  Wait, what direction is the light?  Is that distracting in the background?  What if I get lower for a different perspective?  What if I crop that little corner out?   Just a few things to think of in the hours or seconds before pressing the shutter.

I'll admit-I'll say "shooting" and "taking a picture" or "capturing" an image-these phrases are too hard wired, so no, I'm not a purest in sticking to "making a picture." I recall noted wildlife photographer Jim Brandenberg explaining using a flashlight to highlight an evening shot and addressing if that was okay.  "Does it matter?"  "Is that important"  "Sometimes you just have to make it work," he said. I agree.  I have no problem doing post production-Film masters like Ansel Adams did it years ago-tweeking photographs in an image editor is just as much a part of making a better picture as dark room work was a hundred years ago.  (Journalistic photographs are a different subject)

What got me thinking about this whole subject is the above picture.  I wanted to shoot something of interest on this walk-the light was good, it was early enough in the day, but I wasn't seeing any pictures.  It happens.  At times to break that block, I just start firing away, knowing that nothing I'm getting will be of any worth, but it sometimes primes the pump. I wandered around the 'hood and found a dropped deer antler.  Small, nothing special, but I do like finding them, wondering about when the buck lost it, where he is now, what he'll look like next fall. I like the smoothness of it, polished on some small alder last September and October.  I carried it along thinking it's not enough for a picture. Yet.  The Reed farm still has some remnant old wood fence standing here and there. Rusted barbed wire wrapped on some, ceramic insulators on others.  The corner post I approached divided  long gone cattle from the crop fields along a tractor path.  A fallen blue bird house hung there, with some interesting ochre color clinging to the wood.  The strands of wire seemed like it would work to wrap the antler-and soon I had an impromptu still life.  Some colors repeated in the antler and insulator, some good contrast between smooth polished and textured wood and a small dash of color.  Though the bokah isn't perfect from an iphone, it does well enough to dull the background and get focus where I wanted it.  Award winning image? Hardly, but I could walk away happy enough that I made something that interested me, and yes, I made a picture. Guilty. 

Sometimes, we just need to make it work.