Pauls Photographic Phillosophy
As this is going to be primarily a photography blog, I thought I should jot down a thought or two about how I see photography – and lay down some ground rules for the site to give me something to aim for (and something to break!)
- Taking photos, not making pictures
I’m far more interested in getting it right in the camera than I am fiddling with things in photoshop. This pretty much means “if I can’t do it in the darkroom, I won’t be doing it in photoshop”I’m limiting myself to adjusting brightness, contrast, curves and the occasional dodge/burn. If I do any scratch removal, or retouching, I intend to aim only to remove artefacts introduced when scanning in negatives – not to alter the composition of the original shot.
- Cheap is cheerful
I’m on a bit of a budget, so any equipment I use will be cheap. For my purposes that largely means “not digital” and probably means “black and white” as colour processing is getting expensive these days! In some cases, I’m using cameras that cost me less than a tenner (including shipping) - Shoot lots, shoot often
The only way I’m going to improve my eye is through practice. Whilst some of my friends are shooting “a photo a day” – I’m not digital so don’t quite have the luxury of being able to work that fast. I will however be aiming to shoot at least a “roll a week”. - Composition over technical brilliance
Generally speaking, I’d rather capture mood than sharp detail. Some of my cameras are far from perfect, but still give wonderful results if you treat them carefully. Whilst I’m not aiming for perfect focus, I am aiming for good composition and a result that I’m happy with.I’m my own worst critic though so probably won’t be pleased with anything I post!
- I take the photo, not the camera
Any failures in my photography are my fault, not because of the limitations of my equipment.Likewise, just because a photo was taken with a Holga doesn’t automatically make it wonderful. Photography is about more than that.
I hope that explains a little bit about where I’m coming from, I’ll get things rolling later and scan in some of the stuff I shot this week.