"To accurately record the light reflecting off subjects is a technical matter (a marvelous one, to be sure, but still one made possible by feats of technology, rather than be creative revelation). The finding of aesthetically pleasing subjects is a matter of skill (often benefiting also from a degree of luck), rather than a product of emotion and creative thinking. Creativity--a requisite for art--means the production of something novel, something of the creator's own mind that was not there before and would never exist were it not for a unique mind touched by a spark of inspiration. If nothing is manifested in the image that originates purely in the subjective mind of the artist, then what makes it creative? And if creativity is indeed an indispensable component of art, then what makes such images art?" from More Than a Rock by Guy Tal, copyright Rocky Nook, Inc., 2015 (used by permission).
Regarding photography, Guy Tal says, "To accurately record the light reflecting off subjects is a technical matter." A DSLR camera is an incredible piece of machinery. Digital--the exposure is not recorded to film, it's recorded to a chip. That photo is nothing more than billions of ones and zeros in a sequence. SLR--Single Lens Reflex. If you'd like to know what that means, Wikipedia explains it in about 3,000 words or so. In a few words, when you look through the viewfinder of a single lens reflex camera you see exactly what the lens sees.
I derive much pleasure from holding a digital camera in my hand, pointing it toward something I like and pressing the shutter button. Most of my fans think I'm a pretty good photographer and I would agree with them, but I'm more of an artist than a technician. I have a good friend, a professional photographer, who is both. My photographs do not hold a candle to his. I am constantly in awe of the pictures he takes. The light, the shadows, the colors, the way his subjects dance off the page and grab my attention. It is just incredible. Just watching him at work is a thrill for me. So should I stop taking pictures until I know as much about a camera as he does? That has crossed my mind, but no I'll keep taking pictures.
The biggest challenge for me is finding somewhere to take good photographs. I mostly go to these places--my back yard, my front yard, Chickamauga Civil War Battlefield and downtown Chattanooga. From a photographer's point of view, every time I go to one of these four places everything is different. Yesterday afternoon I stood in the same spot for about 20 minutes and took nearly 100 images and all of them were different. But this morning, thinking about taking pictures I wanted to find somewhere completely new. With the limited time I have to invest in the near future, it needed to be somewhere close by. After a Google search I found just what I was looking for, This scenic drive that starts about fifteen miles from where I sit, promises "waterfalls, canyons and scenic brow vistas."
If I understand what Guy Tal is suggesting about photography and creativity, he is telling me that the specific places that I will photograph along the Lookout Mountain Parkway do not exist until I take the picture."Something of the creator's own mind (the photographer, not the Creator) was not there...until touched by a spark of inspiration". Until I read these words, I had only considered that I captured images and not that I created them. Here's a current example. Yesterday evening I stood in my driveway with my camera in my hand looking at the incredible sunset over Lookout Mountain. I didn't make the mountain, the sun or the properties of the refraction of light. That was the work of the Creator. But I knew what to do with ISO, shutter speed, aperture, and white balance. I chose the best lens for the shoot. I raised my camera to my face and framed the photograph, With my knowledge of my camera and my artistic eye, when I depressed that shutter release, I created something special. If I had not created it, then hundreds of people would not have viewed that sunset. I think it's interesting for this discussion that the Bible says that I am created in God's image. "Create." "Image". It just keeps going in circles, doesn't it?
When I stand before my Maker on that Great and Glorious Day, He may say, "I'm glad to meet you and you're welcome to stay, but explain that 'creation' thing again? "
I've never built a digital camera. I have never created a sunset. But when I look around me, I see things. I see things in ways that no one else has ever seen them, not even my professional photographer friend. And I use that camera to capture moments that never existed until I created them.
Next up: The Lookout Mountain Parkway. To be continued...
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