I bought my first real camera in 1976. It was a Canon FTb. It took 35 mm FILM! From the first day I got it, I was hooked. I decided that I was going to get good at it and do it for a living. And so, after taking on several minimum-wage darkroom jobs, I learned the “behind the scenes” aspects of film and what it could do. Eventually, I made my living as a professional photographer in Long Beach, CA for many years.
Life went on, I grew, moved, changed work. I was working at a photo lab in Rehoboth Beach DE when the first digital cameras started showing up. Professional photographers would come in, show me and announce they were “the wave of the future.” I just laughed and mocked them (after they left, of course.) I would say out loud to co-workers “That will NEVER replace film.” Could I have been more wrong? Now, everyone I know carries a “digital camera” in their pocket via a cell phone. And unfortunately, far too many think that because they can press a button on their iPhone, that they are in fact a photographer. But for me, the idea of being a photographer, is not just about choosing between Aperture Priority, or Shutter Priority. It is about seeing the world in a completely different way.
Back in my early days of learning photography, the thing that came as the biggest revelation to me was that we don’t actually see objects; what we see is LIGHT reflecting OFF objects. We are incapable of visually perceiving anything other than light. That is such a profound piece of knowledge to have if you are going to do Photography–Literally “Light Drawing.”
I watched a photographer in YouTube the other day. He kept saying he was going to “make” a photograph. I thought he mis-spoke, but he repeated it throughout the segment. A few days later I heard another photographer say the same thing. In my time as a photographer, I would always say I was TAKING a photograph–like it was just there and I happened to see it and just picked it up. I’m not sure which term I prefer. To me, a big part of making a great photograph, is first SEEING it there where most people just walk right by it. I believe there are literally millions of photographs just waiting to be taken and most people walk right past them and never see them. A true photographer, like a skilled hunter, is always paying attention, always looking, and always SEEING as they meander through life. Once you see that photograph, it takes a certain amount of technical skill to actually capture that image the way you see it, or the way you WANT to see it. That is “making” a photograph.
Terminology aside, I have spent the last few weeks learning how to see all over again. When I did photography for a living, I was almost always in “visual mode.” I walked through life seeing the way light reflected off of buildings and people’s faces. I constantly watched for changes in lighting, between the dawn and dusk and when it didn’t suit my vision, I brought my own light in the form of a Norman light pack with two studio strobes.
I am starting over. I used to have “a good eye” for photography. It has faded over the years, but I intend to get it back, and am convinced the way to do that is by practicing. I take a walk with Cosmo every morning, and lately, I spend most of that time in visual mode. I’ve started taking a camera with me everywhere I go, and take (or make) photographs every day. I’m relearning the tech part. It is quite different to take photos digitally than it was to make them on film. I’m also experimenting with video as well. When I get my RV and get on the road, I hope to keep a visual travelogue of my adventures, showing photographs of where I am, and a video vlog of who I’m with and what I’m doing.
In the meantime, I will keep practicing, not only the technical skills needed to collect the light and save it so others can see it, but to be the one who sees things in the first place that countless others have walked by and never noticed.