RE: [Leica] Re: What makes a good photo, by Ted Grant

[Jem Kime <jem.kime@cwcom.net>]

Alastair, Ted,
I'm with you both (?!)
As an example, you could take my second week's picture from the PAW series 
and I'll tell you that I took it by instinct. It moved me to snap that and 
take the picture away with me.
But it was the anaylsis of the picture which became fundamental to me 
understanding WHY I had wanted to take it in the first place.
I know now why I wanted to take the picture.
Jem

http://members.tripod.co.uk/JemK/Pic-A-Week/2.htm


- -----Original Message-----
From:	firkin@netconnect.com.au [SMTP:firkin@netconnect.com.au]

Jem Kime writes:
> let us be open to embracing different attitudes to photography in the 
same
> way that we'd be open to different cultures, races, sexes and whatever 
else
> is on the PC agenda these days.
>
> Jem
> (sermon over)

Jem,

I'm with you on this one. Ted has years of experience and practice, and can
afford to run with his "feelings", as his instincts will usually be right.
Some of us are still learning, even if late in life, and need to adjust the
grey cells a bit in order to improve the image. My technique now is to take
an image quickly, then examine it and try to make it better. Unlike Helen,
I almost never raise the camera to my eye and not press the shutter. The
decision to "frame" what I'm looking at is usually a good enough excuse for
me to "record" it, though often the results are what I would expect --
simple record shots.

There are as many ways to photography as there are photographers, and
although we all learn from others, it is not until we find our own "style"
that we can develop. The sad thing for me is that I've fought against my
"style" for years ;-)

Cheers
Alastair