I like to think of photography as a language, it helps me to communicate and to create, it is a wonderful medium, so direct and effective.
We learn photography just like we learn a language, the words and the grammar together and we use it to tell our own story, make our own poetry. In photography, there is the pure technique and then there are rules about composition, lighting etc
Now my first professional camera was a Canon A1, you can look it up, it’s not exactly young and yes it’s from another century…
I loved it and still do as it stands on my desk to that day, but it does require some good training to operate, and of course was manual focus, it was also expensive to use, as it shoots films, which you need to buy and process and print, which means that every time you press the shutter on a film camera, it costs money. Things have change fortunately and digital has made it way cheaper to take photos, technology has also greatly improved and in turn has made it easier than ever before to take on photography.
Nowadays the modern cameras, or most people’s phone actually takes care of most of the technical sides of things so you can concentrate on just that : taking the photo. A bit like you don’t need to be a mechanic to drive a car, and it’s a good thing for most people.
In photography, just like in pretty much anything else, the more we know and the more we can create, the more power we have to realise our ideas and turn them into fantastic photos.
It can be those magic moments, just like in this photo or it can be posed, either way you need to know that language. It would be tempting to think that candid photos are the easy ones and the posed shots trickier, requiring more technique, but it’s not exactly the case. You see a posed shot is repeatable, follows a certain technique that can be learnt and applied, while a candid shot is just a moment, and to catch that moment you have to be there, 100% there, with your skills and your experience and while we try to make that moment happen, there will not be another one exactly the same, and this is why it is more difficult but also more rewarding for me to capture those magic moments.
Learn that language and start talking Never stop learning
Nico
