Part 2 - Busting the myths on photography – Photography is NOT ALL about capturing the light

I wrote about how Photography is not really about painting with light in the last edition. But then what is it? Many claim that it is all about capturing the light. This is a claim – I have seen made by photographers from many genres – but mainly by nature and landscape photographers. I think that they sell themselves too short on making these statements.

There are photographers who create their own light – a photographer working in his studio or a commercial photographer working on location using many artificial lights, etc. But most nature photographers generally use the available light – when the light is good, the images look good. From that perspective, many have described their work as simply “chasing or stalking the light” or “light comes first, everything else is trivial” or even "I was just there when the mother nature offered me the light" , etc. I know many nature photographers do not even shoot beyond the golden hours (early morning or late afternoon when sun near the horizon). But giving all the credit for the wonderful art that they create on something (light) that they have no control over is just silly. If photography is ALL about that light – which you don’t even create or modify – then what exactly IS your role? Just be there at the right spot, at the right moment? Sounds like a hunter – rather than an artist.

Some claim that they made many hours of trek to go somewhere to shoot that location and waited for hours for that perfect light – well, that’s nothing to do with creating art. We often wrongly interpret “effort” with “artistry” – just because we spent hours to make an image, the image has to be “great” – a work of art. It really does not matter – all that matter is the end result (the photograph) – whether it can stir any emotion in the viewer, whether it can make an impact on the viewer. The impact of the image is critical – not how one created it. And if you say all that impact come from the light and the nature gave you that light – you were just there to record it …then you are selling yourself too short Mr. Documentarian.

A good photographer look for the ideal light, but he is not the slave of the light. He looks for stories, he looks for messages, he looks for design and compositions, he looks for mysterious, spiritual and unusual meaning of a scene – then he thinks of how to use the light to interpret it. Light is just a part of the equation – not THE equation. A midday shot can be powerful if it tells a story, a beautiful sunset shot can be just a pretty and soul-less image without any impact on the viewer

We should all think about it when we go out to shoot next time – light is your friend, light is NOT your master. Use it to make great images; don’t let it overpower your thoughts. And, don’t ever under-sell yourself claiming that it was ALL about the great light that you FOUND – as that does not make you an artist. Great light can make an ordinary image look good, it does not make it great or anything extra-ordinary. So stop chasing the light, and start chasing your inner vision and artistic goals.