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Photography as a Way of Life
By Irakly Shanidze
First more or less successful attempts to create a photographic image were made as early as
1826. Since that moment photography progressed dramatically, but from its earliest days until
now its fate has been rather complicated: for a long time it was not generally accepted as a
form of art. Partly the very nature of photography and an essence of photographic process
were at fault. In a nutshell photography is an instrument for fixing a moment of reality with
the highest degree of accuracy, i.e. documenting. Moreover, photographic process requires
use of precision equipment and fairly complex chemical and lately digital techniques. That is
why photography unlike any other form of art attracts people with technical mindset and, what
is also important, with rational perception of the surrounding. It is a way of perception that
entails meticulous analysis of information obtained. A rational thinker asks himself and others
«what is it?», «why?», «what for?», « what does it look like?» etc. When no answer is given the
seen is rejected and often times with extreme hostility as something than has no right to exist.
For people with discriminatory mind the main (and frequently the only)criterion of artistic quality is
faithfulness of representation of reality. They do not understand that technical superiority is not merely
corner-to-corner sharpness, but an ability to obtain a desired emotional response from a viewer.
Photography as an art form, however, embraces far more than just critical sharpness and correct
exposure; hence it does not fit the standard, and real works of photographic art drown in a
stream of dull, static and emotionally hollow pictures that are so abundant because they are
just all too easy to produce.
Truly artistic photography is a product of an alternative way of perceiving reality that is typical
for creative individuals. It is sensual, or emotional, and it prevails over rational thinking and
analysis of the seen. Moreover, oftentimes reason interferes with perception by distorting and
limiting it with taboos and preconceived notions. For a person whose perception is uninhibited
with obsessive urge to discriminate and rationalize, the seen subconsciously spawns a chain of
bright and compelling emotional images (if the object of contemplation is worthy of that). This
phenomenon is very similar to what an artist feels in a moment of inspiration and can be as
powerful as orgasm.
They often say that a talented person is talented in everything. It is a common misconception
resulted from lack of understanding of how creative mind works. The talented person, who is
commonly referred as an artist, has a gift of an unusually high level of awareness and an
acute sensual and emotional contact with the world around him and a strong desire to share
his emotional experience. The rest is just a matter of technical skill, which is much easier to
acquire than to develop creativity on a contemplative stage. An artist does not look for logical
explanations of associative chains resulted from interacting with reality. His goal is to capture
the emotion and recreate it in a form that a viewer can understand and relate to. All said is
especially true in photography. A talented photo artist perceives reality in an unconstricted
fashion and is not preoccupied with technical aspect of his work. He works with the subject by
subconsciously identifying its traits that have the strongest potential for creating powerful
emotional impact and capitalizes on them. On the other hand, photographers with
discriminatory mind tend to concentrate on technique; they strictly follow photographic rules
and try their best to fit the subject into a rigid frame of a desired outcome.
It would be a mistake to conclude that photo artists ignore technical aspect of photography. In
fact, it is quite opposite. In order to become untangled from endless technical details
interfering with creative process one should master the craft first. Just like an experienced
driver who instinctively senses when to shift the gear and does not think before turning on
headlights, a good photographer unconsciously composes the shot taking all aspects into
consideration. The only way to attain such freedom in photography is to shoot all the time.
Only then the camera becomes an extension of the photographer’s eye much like a tennis
racquet turns into a part of a body of an ATP professional. When photographic technique
becomes the artist’s second nature, nothing can interfere with his concentration on the
emotional aspect of work. There is an important distinction between not thinking about rules
of picture taking and deliberately breaking them. The latter usually results in photos shot for a
purpose of doing something against the rules, which prevails over artistic content.
Another important quality of an artist is a true understanding that his art is a result of
interaction between him and the environment. The art is not created in vacuum, therefore the
artist has to acknowledge this external influence and respect it. Arrogance that comes with
rational thinking constricts the photographer’s ability to recognize the role of the environment.
It causes a behavioral pattern of total control. The photographer spends enormous amount of
energy attempting to make everything work the way that he planned instead of using natural
properties of the environment for his benefit. For instance, Henri Cartier-Bresson who was a
war photojournalist during World War II shot with a small 35mm camera and never used a
flash. When allied forces landed in Europe, American military photographers came equipped
with Graflex 4x5” rigs and electronic flashes, which were rightfully considered technological
marvels of their time. They were stunned with quantity and quality of Cartier-Bresson’s photos
that he would shoot every day with equipment that was way below their standards. The secret
was simple: 35mm Leica was much easier to handle than a five-pound Graflex and did not
require constant reloading. Also Cartier-Bresson’s understanding of natural light let him shoot
without a flash, which made him much less noticeable. Superiority of this technique made
Cartier-Bresson proactive rather then reactive in his approach to the subject and eventually led
to better performance. In a sense, this story exemplifies an application of a Taoist notion of an
effortless effort. By doing less (carrying a smaller and lighter camera and not using artificial
lighting) Henri achieved more.
This effortless approach is largely based upon two things: awareness and ability to recognize
photogenic qualities of a scene and instantly react upon it. Some people, usually beginning
photographers, have a tendency to be on a constant lookout for something photographable. This type
of obsessive behavior is actually harmful because it interferes with normal life
as it prevents the photographer from enjoying it. He shoots right and left in an attempt to
photograph everything and laments each “Kodak moment” that he did not manage to
capture. As a result, in the evening he cannot remember anything that have happened during the day
without looking at pictures. A good photographer does not constantly look for something to photograph,
but sees the photo opportunity when it is there and reacts spontaneously. A really great photographer
does not just see the potential scene; rather, he anticipates it and can be in the right place
at the right moment. It still leaves enough room for spontaneity, because the photographer has to make
a decision how to compose a picture and when to press the button in a split second. I cannot resist using
another analogy with tennis here. An 65-yearold player may leave his young and physically
superior opponent breathless after a single set with minimal physical effort, because he knows what is
going to happen several strokes ahead and relatively slowly moves to the right place even before the
opponent returns the ball.
The world around us is constantly changing, and we see adapting to the precariousness of
nature as something that we just have to cope with. To those for whom photography is a way
to interact with reality, ability to adapt to the change is critical because attachment to
predetermined images constrains the photographer’s creativity. There are two dramatically
different ways of dealing with changing reality. Rational thinkers are usually controlling and
adamant in their ways of working with a subject. They fail to recognize that the subject may
have different properties and do not see newly emerged photo opportunities due to
preoccupation with the initial plan. As a result they are too forceful in their interaction with
environment, and their photos distort reality instead of reflecting it. A person with
unconstrained mind is much more flexible since he responds to the changes as they are new
opportunities rather than obstacles. Moreover, he may easily give up an initial idea and move
on without regret to something else prompted by the change. One may say that this processoriented
strategy is unacceptable while shooting professionally because it is result that
matters. Certainly, professional photography imposes a number of requirements aimed at not
just attaining superior technical quality and artistic content, but also consistency and reliability.
It may seem that careful planning, redundancy and high level of control on all stages of
production that are inherent in business of professional photography are in conflict with
spontaneity and flexibility. In part it is true because after all if a client paid for a photo of a
model with an umbrella running through the rain, there is a very slim chance that he would
accept a photo that has fog instead of the rain, even it is million times better artistically. He
could not care less that it did not rain for to weeks. Photographer on assignment is expected
to take care of this sort of problems: if you got paid for rain, make it rain. However, a good
professional photographer can and must be spontaneous, flexible and resourceful even within
constraints of a detailed technical specification given by an art director or a client.
An interesting aspect of a photographer’s flexibility is his ability to accept new technologies.
Much like those who used to flatly dismiss photography seeing it as a substandard imitation of
painting, some “old-school shooters”, for instance, still question viability of digital image
capture. Those who accepted digital technology did not dismiss traditional silver halide process,
but simply acquired a yet another tool for creative selfexpression. For them accepting or
rejecting an innovation is just a matter of feasibility of its use in creative process. It
would be all too primitive to think that the only role of acceptance is to help the
photographer embrace new technologies without prejudice. Acceptance with respect to the subject is an
ability to see miraculous in ordinary and to believe that every subject deserves photographic
attention. For instance, it is quite common among some studio photographers to look down at those
who take pictures of birds or flowers. A good shooter, however, will find how to create a work
of art from the most mundane subject instead of being scornful and arrogant. By recognizing
that the subject is as fragile as its comfort zone the artist works gently and unobtrusively.
Dealing with reality photographically is exciting and rewarding. Photography gives a unique
opportunity to interact with the world by capturing transient moments exactly how the shooter
saw them. However, it is not as easy as it may seem. Level of immediacy provided by
photography is virtually unattainable in any other art form because an instant in which a
picture is created is so short that the photographer virtually has no control over the subject or
his artwork once the shutter is released. Therefore, in addition to a display of superior
technical skill and visual harmony, a good photograph is a product of contemplation,
spontaneity and recognition of the continuous transformation of nature. It is vital to
understand what good picture is because An artist who does not discriminate between
shooting for living and living for shooting must aspire to create superior work since the only
thing that counts in photography is nothing else but good photographs.
Irakly Shanidze Bio
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