What's The Point?

Hi, everybody. The season here is really at a contradictory time of year. On the one hand, tour buses are on the increase with each passing week. On the other hand, Christmas is right around the corner. I'm only about 7 weeks from my traditional viewing of the movie "A Christmas Carol" starring George C. (Patton) Scott. I just love that show. In fact, I just love the story no matter which version is showing but I like the afore mentioned one the best. And while I love the Holiday part of the year it's still the end of the year and business from the tourism side drops to zero and we have to lay off our employees. It's also that time of the year where we really have to honestly look at where we are and compare that with where we hoped we would be and sometimes that isn't a pretty thing to do. You always have to evaluate how the business is doing and see where improvements can be made. Sometimes, changes are easy to recognize and other times it's like Snipe hunting (for you long time hillbilly folks you will know what Snipe hunting is, for the rest as an old timer). Either, way it always makes for a bit of stress and sometimes a few sleepless nights but much like beating yourself with a hammer it always feels so good when you get done.

I continue to be amazed at the amount of revelations that keep coming which have been prompted by the "trilogy" post about service station attendants. I have taken a little extra time during the course of the day to surf the net looking for articles that have some connection with those ideas that were proposed in those blogs. And boy are they out there. I read one which was openly encouraging folks to sell their photos online telling them that there was a lot of demand for photos of all kind and it didn't matter how much knowledge or experience you had or how good a camera you own, just take the pictures and post them for sale on line. Don't worry cause I'm not going to take off down that road today. However, it has encouraged me to continue exploring done the path I talked about in those blogs. I have me ideas and I will keep you posted on them. But for today let's continue our discussion on composition with todays Pro Pix Tips.

If you have kids then you will understand the thought I have about the most favorite word in a small child's vocabulary is the word "why". Why is one of those words that can be as annoying and frustrating as it is exciting and necessary. Recently, the word "why" is loosing its' popularity as more and more people don't care why, just that something is or does. But there are those times that "why" just needs to have an answer. Anyone who will admit to knowing me will tell you that on more than one occasion they have heard me say that every picture tells a story whether you thing it does or not. The old saying that a picture is worth a thousand word is quite correct. Have you ever found a photo that was taken many years ago and when you looked at it you had no clue where it was taken or who those people are standing around you. The story has completely changed from the intent of what the photographer was wanting to tell. What the story is telling now is that the photographer did not take "why" into account when they were composing the shot there by failing to capture the memory that was intended. Sometimes we capture a memorable event but, because the composing of the picture was done without insuring that the "why" is properly captures, the story the picture tells can be quite different from the intent. An example can come from out souvenir trade that we do inside area restaurants. We tell our folks to get the guest to set next to each other and have the male put his arm around the lady he's with. The story here is of two people who care about each other and enjoying their time together. But on several occasions our folks can't or won't get the couple to set next to each other and take the picture with the table of food piled high on there plates between them. The story here is (especially if either one or both are over weight) these folks are fat and here's the reason why. "Why am I taking this photo?" is the first question you ask yourself when you begin compose your photo. It's hard to know when you get to where you're going if you don't have a destination in mind. If there's no reason for the picture than what's the point of taking it? It's only when you have a point to the photo, a story to tell, that you can press on to the rest of the composition techniques. "Why" identifies the subject of the photo. Only then can you begin to position the subject of the photo in such a way that the future views of the photo will easily be able to identify. In doing so, that all import first step is made to lead the viewer to the rest of the story (sorry Paul, but the phrase fit so well here). If the "why" and thereby the subject of the photo is not established then no matter what you do to compose the rest of the shot will matter.

One last thing that I would like to add before tying a bow on this post for the day. It's about the old "kiss" thing, Keep Image Subject Simple. OK that may have been a shameless act of acronym stealing but it still works as the Keep It Simple Stupid thing. A major problem in the composing process is that some folks try to capture the entire book of "Gone with the wind" in one photo thereby trying to make a picture worth a million words with very few of them making any sense at all. "Busy" photos are not very appealing at best and extremely confusing at worst. There are several techniques that can be used to accomplish this, but they all start with the question "Why?". Otherwise the photo you take may be met with another question you as the photographer never want to hear asked of your work, "What's the point?".

Well, we're off like a herd of turtles with our discussion of composition. Tune in next time when we'll hear our hero say, "How?". Have a great day everyone!

Richard