Photographing things, people, and places that have novelty make it easier for us to find an interesting shot. Yet, a visitor to where they live would be captivated by it. Some go on a vacation and happily capture photos of people in the streets of their exotic destination, but they don’t find their own neighborhood as appealing. That is because it is harder to see the appeal of what is mundane to them. I speak to lots of photographers, and many of them say that they find it easier to photograph people and places they are unfamiliar with than in their own backyard. However, I think there may be another reason behind why he and others shoot situations that are outside their usual experiences. Those criticisms are more likely driven by envy. Yet, if you listen to him talk about his work, or speak with those he has worked with, this could not be further from the truth he shows compassion towards his subjects. His work has been criticized for sneering at and looking down on working-class people. Recently, an article here by Kim Simpson promoted an exhibition by Martin Parr. I would have consigned this image to the bin because of the van and the people in the background. I know young people who have been put off photography by unnecessarily harsh judging.
Jumble photo professional#
I wonder whether those photographers were encouraged to turn professional by well-meaning family and friends.Įqually, many of those who do offer criticism don't do it with compassion. I’ve seen a professional bridal portrait with a road cone lying on its side in the shot, and another where a stray hair was running across the bride’s face. Sadly, the majority of non-photographers will praise their images because they don't recognize the mistakes either. They don’t see that their pictures have errors unless they are pointed out. The difficulty though is that novices don't necessarily recognize their mistakes. Similarly, our first photos are just the starting point on our never-ending journey of learning photography.
But when someone wobbles when they take their first steps, we don't think of their attempt as being bad. Those are a few of the types of mistakes that everyone has made along the way. I shot this purely to see what the sign said, but then thought it was perfect to illustrate the point in that last paragraph. They may be underexposed, have wonky horizons, consist of a jumble of distractions, have lines that lead our eyes in randomly around the picture, show a lamppost growing from the top of someone’s head, and are oversaturated, but it is important that we take them.Ī multitude of errors. Firstly, there are those shot by beginners that really are not bad at all. I think there are different types of bad photos. Thankfully, those techniques have pretty much gone out of the window and more subtle approaches to developing photos have come to the fore. (If you think that distracting squiggle protects your photo from theft, check out the performance of generative fill that’s coming to Photoshop.) Similarly, something I was once guilty of, the too-heavy use of mid-tone contrast, is now met with disdain.Ĭonsequently, when we look at pictures from 10 or 15 years ago, we often see those images as gaudy and tasteless. All of those were my pet hates from the start and I am glad to see them disappearing. Selective color was once considered cool as well, as too were signatures on photos. There are fads in our art that are forever going out of fashion.įor example, it wasn’t that long ago when photographers were raving about hyper-real HDR images. Then, after a period of popularity, they become passé. New art movements have always been met with resistance before they are accepted. The way we have done things in the past often doesn’t apply to the way we do things today. I didn't check the camera settings first. Pushing the boundaries helps us to discover something new and interesting. Similarly, just because you do something one particular way doesn't mean everyone else should do so too. Just because some famous photographer or art movement has declared that things should be done in a certain way doesn’t mean it is universally applicable. It’s easy for us to dismiss pictures because they don’t comply with what are arbitrary standards that we accept as good. Secondly, bad photos allow us to challenge our beliefs about what a good photo should be. Why do we think they are bad? What would we have done differently? We can then go out and avoid making those mistakes again.
Why? Firstly, there is the obvious answer: we can learn from bad photos. No, I think bad photos are brilliant, not least because I believe I am perfectly capable of taking them. It’s not because it gives me any sense of satisfaction or feeling of superiority, although we all have come across people who think that way.
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