Sunday, August 18, 2013

THE ROLE OF IMAGINATION IN PHOTOGRAPHY

I will be expanding on this theme in my upcoming book, RIGHT BRAIN PHOTOGRAPHY
(Be an artist first). Students who have taken my right brain photography classes and workshops know me by this mantra: I don't see with my eyes; I see with my imagination.

Here is but one example of how I use my imagination to "see" the end result. I can imagine, or visualize, what my images will look like way before I depress the shutter button. Sometimes I create my image, i.e., get my shot, several hours after I see the subject with my eyes. I often see a subject with my eyes, but can "see" what it could look like with my imagination. Such was the case with the following image.
 
I was in a little town in Arkansas when I "saw something" early in the morning. I didn't like the direction of the shadows--the part of the scene that grabbed my attention in the first place. I figured that if I walked around town and did some more shooting for a couple of hours or so, the shadows would be where I envisioned them to be. So, I did just that. About two hours later, I went back to create my image. It was perfect timing--the shadows were exactly where I wanted them to be.


Now for the question. What is it? If you guessed light fixtures and shadows, you're right.
If you guessed light fixtures on the side of a Taco Bell, you are reading my mind. If you are like one of my students in my recent Rocky Mountain National Park workshop, you see three dogs, and your imagination is more surrealistic than mine!

 

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