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iJourneys

John Gough Photography

How Photographers See & Feel

by John Gough

Photographers See and Feel

I think photographers are special. Photographers see and feel differently from other people.

“Taking an image, freezing a moment, reveals how rich reality truly is.”

Anon

I am convinced that photographers see more than people who are not photographers. I am sure that photographers look continually for opportunities to see. When they do see, they can in that moment. Concentrate. Look for details. Wonder. Feel as well as see.

“Photography for me is not looking, it’s feeling. If you can’t feel what you’re looking at, then you’re never going to get others to feel anything when they look at your pictures.”

Don McCullin

Is there any Evidence?

Do Photographers See More?

In 2015 Canon undertook an experiment in which three people were asked to look at a picture. Eye tracking technology was used to analyse their eye movements. Showing where they focused and for how long.

Canon invited a non-photographer, a photography student and the professional photographer who shot the image. Each viewed the image.

The non-photographer focused on ten or so points that drew her attention with a total of 212 eye movements.

The photography student made twice as many eye movements. He also spent time looking at different areas of the image.

Finally, the person who photographed the image paid the most attention to the detail. Nearly 1200 eye movements.

See the chart above.

What does this prove? Well, nothing it was not a properly controlled test. It is just a little piece of flimsy evidence that supports my hypothesis that photographers look and see more.

How about feeling?

Do Photographers Bring Feeling to a Scene?

In another experiment, Canon examined the power of perspective in portrait photography. The camera company enlisted the help of 6 photographers and asked them each to independently shoot portraits of a man named Michael. But there was a twist: each photographer was told a different thing about Michael’s background.

The photographers were told that Michael was: a self-made millionaire, someone who has saved a life, an ex-inmate, a commercial fisherman, a self-proclaimed psychic, and a recovering alcoholic.

But… Michael is none of those things. He’s an actor, and as he followed the photographers’ direction, he did his best to take on the personality of each character.

The photographers, guided by their fictitious brief, had drastically different approaches to photographing their subject.

“A photograph is shaped more by the person behind the camera than by what’s in front of it,” Canon says. This experiment, titled “Decoy,” was intended to prove that point and “shift creative thinking behind the lens.”

The experiment is demonstrated in the video below:

A photographer’s feelings, attitude, character, opinion, and knowledge will all be captured in every picture they take.

Photographers are the luckiest people. We don’t just look. We see and we feel. We often capture moments that others would miss, and in sharing that experience we allow others into a private world that is uniquely ours

Filed Under: Creativity, Journey Tagged With: How we See, Mindfulness

Photography and Mindfulness

by John Gough

Walk in the Woods / John Gough / Canon EOS R

When I walk I see pictures, I am not mad I am a photographer. My mind is filled with images. Look at the colour of those leaves against that dark tree trunk. Look at that old man sitting on a bench. The clouds are amazing!

We are photographers, and as we take more and more pictures we develop that sense of seeing. The camera is just an extension of ourselves capturing that moment.

Moment

Photographers live in the moment. Cartier Bresson called it the decisive moment. Capturing as he put it, ‘in a fraction of a second’, ‘the significance of an event as well as of a precise organisation of forms which give that event its proper expression’. As photographers, we are always looking, forever seeing.

It is all too easy to rush through life without stopping to notice very much. Preoccupied with our thoughts, concerns and anxieties. Professor Mark Williams, former director of the Oxford Mindfulness Centre, describes this as ‘“trapped” in reliving past problems or “pre-living” future worries’. He believes that living the moment, aware of the world around you and your own thoughts and feelings can improve our wellbeing.

Still

Recently I saw an inspiring presentation by Paul Sanders a photographer with a mindful approach to photography. His website is Still which describes his philosophy.

‘I believe that photography has the power to influence our perception of the world around us, building a sense of appreciation and contentment simply by taking the time to notice what’s around us and how that makes us feel. Through photography, we can discover a better way to understand ourselves, our thoughts and our feelings, and to reconnect with a world we normally rush through’.

There was a lot to take away from his talk, but what impressed me was the notion that you don’t have to pick up your camera and go out to take a particular picture. e.g. “Today I will take street photographs in Soho”.

Instead, pick up the camera and see where it takes you. Following an evening listening to Paul. I started to venture out and photograph what I saw, and what expressed how I felt in that moment.

The results are not fantastic photographs, (see above) but it made me realise that seeing and living the moment, is one of photography’s greatest gifts.



Camera Wrist Strap

I have avoided dropping my camera so many times using a simple inexpensive wrist strap like this one. Cameras and expensive lenses do not bounce!

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Filed Under: Journey, Photography Tagged With: How we See

Copyright: John Gough 2022