Seeing
The Key to Photography Is Seeing
by Tim Webb
If you’re going to be a photographer, be a good one. Treat every picture that you take like it is the most important photo in the world. It’s your job as the photographer to make photos exciting, regardless of how boring it may be. Photography is about seeing! Camera equipment changes from year to year. The key to Photography lies in the ability to see. Learn to see the world through a viewfinder. Train yourself to notice the light and study its direction. Learn to see how pictures can compose themselves without a camera.
I can’t help but drive down the road and see how the sun light can turn something as simple as a corn field into a post card. Or I can be sitting on my couch and notice how the sunlight coming through living room window is creating a beautiful back light on my daughter’s head, as she tells me stories about her day at school.
I also love to frame photos in my mind. Even without a camera in my hand, I can see a person being framed by a doorway or window, or anything in the foreground or background that lends itself as a secondary subject.
Seeing the world through a viewfinder is a mentality. It begins with slowing down and taking the time to look at the world around you. After a while, it becomes second nature. A photographer who has trained their mind to see can’t help but to see. After a while the images force themselves into your mind.
The mind is where it’s at. A beautiful photograph starts in the photographer’s mind and ends up in the photographer’s camera. The mind is the toy, not the machine.
I stood on a ladder to create an angle with the dogwood flowers.
My family farm framed with a stovepipe opening.
Conference goers framed with a bourbon barrel.
A wedding couple framed with a glass cross window in the door leading to the sanctuary.
I used a fast shutter speed to freeze thoroughbreds as they break from the starting gate at Keeneland.
I took this shot flat on my back to create a unique view of microwave tower.
Sometimes a representation of the primary subject can offer a more creative photo than the subject itself. This was my daughter at Disney World.
Shadows on the wall
A strong shaft of early morning light spills onto the kitchen table.
Reflections of EKU graduates in a pool of water.
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