Soul shooting
/When I see a photo that I love it's not my mind that's loving it. No, it's my heart. My mind would check for rule of thirds, exposure, see the wrinkle in the dress, and analyze any post production to figure out how it was done and how it was lit up. My mind would run the logic and statistics if I let it.
This photo of Jay was the last one for the day. We'd done some fashion and some boxing shots and pulled a lot of great emotion out for those. Jay worked on his end and I made sure the lighting helped reflect the emotion as much as I could. At the end of several hours we knew we were done but I had this one last vision that came to me. There was Jay, buff as they get, and the lights and mood at my disposal.
So I sat Jay down, told him to lean forward and place his hands on the top of his head. I placed a couple lights on him. One on the backdrop and on almost right down on his head and shoulders from the front. And I took this shot.
I didn't measure anything. I didn't think about anything technical at all. I had a vision and just created it with my eye and heart. And I like it better than anything else we shot. And it's kinda' fun knowing it wasn't planed, worked out, fretted over, or metered to be perfect.
Light meters, color charts, white balance, tape measures, and rules make for perfect 'ho hum' photos in my opinion. It's not because I don't understand those rules and tools, I actually do. I have just found they make the pictures boring and lifeless when followed to the letter.
I guess what I'm trying to express here is that we often over think a shot. Sometimes to a point where it becomes impossible to do. Or it doesn't come out like the 'book' said it should. I like to shoot with the creative side of my brain, the emotional side, the one where creativity comes from. If you shoot from that side you'll create pictures that inspire that side of other people's brains.
When another photographer tells me what's technically wrong with one of my shots I smile and nod. I don't care however. I'm OCD about creating things I love but not OCD about how to create them. Does that make sense?
