Impact in photos

I've been mostly posting about fishing, but today I would like to talk about photography.  The thing that is not really thought about when taking, or making, a photograph.

When I first became interested in photography, I was still serving in the U.S. Navy.  A friend was taking a Famous Photographers course.  This was way before the internet, online courses.  Everything as done through the mail.

I looked at his books for the course and thought this is really exciting, so I used my GI Bill and signed up.  I received three ring bound books with all the assignments and a basic class on photography.  I never did complete the course, but one thing stands out.  One of the assignment had to do with color photography.  The "instructor" was Irving Penn.  At that time I had no idea who Irving Penn was, and to this day regret that I did not keep his critique.  It was a personal, and I believe hand written, critique of the photos I had submitted.  All I remember of it was that he wrote that color should be held to a minimum for impact.  Or something along those lines.

After being discharged, I decided I wanted to become a photographer, and applied to Brooks Institute of Photography.  In the '70's, photography was very popular, and Brooks had something like a two year waiting period to start.  During this time I was doing what I could to learn photography and came across a book published by Kodak called "Impact: Photography for Advertising".  The book talked about how photos needed to have an impact to grab the viewer.

Today, with digital cameras, something has been lost in the art of photography.  It has made it too easy to get good images.  No longer does a person have to learn the technical side to take photos.  The cameras do all the work.  You can look at thousands of photos online, and there are a lot of good ones, but few great ones.

The most obvious weakness in a lot of photos posted today is they lack IMPACT!  How many sunset shots, that are of just the sunset, have you seen?  Most are what the photographer saw and captured.  What nature provided.  Nothing added to make it a great photo.  When I was teaching a photo class, I told the class that I did not want to see any sunset shots unless there was more to it.

What I am attempting to bring out, is that there must be some thing in the photograph that connects with the viewer.  There must be either some sort of emotional connection, or it must tell a story.  Something besides a pretty picture.  It must draw the viewer into the image.  Make them want to be part of the story, or emotionally move them.

The masters of painting where able to do this.  If you look at a Rembrandt painting, he draws you into the image, and touches your soul.  He was able to connect the viewer with his story.

They great photographers also brought this to their work.  If you look at a Joyce Tenneson, Irving Penn, or Richard Avadon image, you will be drawn into what the artist produced.

Emotion isn't just taking a photo of a puppy or a small child.  It must have the extra magic that hooks the viewers soul.

Peruse photos by great artists and try to understand what makes the piece great.  Try to put this little extra in what you are producing.  Add the emotion, or impact, to take your images to the next level.  Go beyond what most of the photos out there are.  You will be amazed how viewers will react to your images.