A Guest Post by PBA Don Barone
I believe one simple thing about picture taking…
…it is not the camera, and it is not the lens that are the most important part of picture taking. The most important part of photography is your eyes.
To me, the challenge of photography is the ability to have the camera shot match what I see, match what I raised the camera for in the first place.
And yes, cameras take wonderful, stunning photos, but there isn’t a camera on the planet that knows WHY the photo was taken.
The WHY is us.
Shoot the single raindrop, not the storm.
Shoot the photo that makes you happy, makes you sad, makes you angry. Shoot the photo that strikes the responsive chord within you and us.
"A portrait is not made in the camera but on either side of it.”
– Edward Steichen
Listening is as important as film speed.
The soul of a person is found within their pauses. A downward glance, the twirling of hair, or the biting of lips all tell a photographic story.
A frown says more than a smile.
Whatever way the crowd of photographers face, turn the other way, the story isn’t always in front of you.
A snowman isn’t just about the snow but also tells the story of those who made it.
In news, my Macro lens told the truth better than my telephoto.
“Photography is not about cameras, gadgets, and gizmos. Photography is about photographers. A camera didn’t make a great picture any more than a typewriter wrote a great novel.”
– Peter Adams
Two people on stage, only one would win. $100,000 was on the line. The line of photographers were all standing at the front of the stage, as was I.
I knew there were going to be 10 or 12 photos of the win. I also knew that all the photos would look pretty much the same, and so I turned around, back to the stage, and saw standing there the wife and child of one of the finalists up on the stage. I only took one shot, and it wasn’t of the winner.
This is a photo of anticipation. It is a photo of the wife and son of the possible winner. This is what hope of a $100,000 win looks like. This is what hope for a win by a husband and father looks like.
And yes, the husband and father won.
And yes this is the picture that was the lead photo of the win.
“Great photography is about depth of feeling, not depth of field.”
– Peter Adams
