Photography With A Plan
The rules of photography are a tool, your camera is a tool, your computer is a tool, and the software you use is a tool, but what good are all the tools if you don’t have an idea what you are going to build with them.
A mechanic needs tools to fix a car, but what if there is no car to fix, he is left with all his tools wasted.
Imagine a cook with a big kitchen all the cooking utensils for cooking a banquet all the fridge full with all types of food ready to be cooked but he does not know what to cook, he can not come up with any recipes, imagine a sculpture sitting in front of a wood block with all the tools ready to start but he does not know what to carve.
So if you have all the tools of photography isn’t that enough to make good photos? answer “no”. You need an idea, then you need to figure out how to best develop that idea as a photo, then you go hunting for the perfect “SET” then you check if your idea will fit the set or will make the photo, if it does then you take the photo.
I have to clarify or explain that these types of photos are not random, most of the time they are built or designed by the photographer, once in a blue moon you do find that your idea will materialize in front of you and then you take the photo, but it’s almost like winning the lottery, the chances of that happening are very slim, almost impossible, unless you don’t have any idea to transmit to your audience and you are just taking photos of things, which in that case you should title all those photos as
“Things”
I am not saying that once in a while you go out hunting for an adventure and see what you catch, it’s something that we all do, but it’s only once in a while.
It’s better to have a specific idea of what you want and then either build it in your studio or go out and look for it and then you will tell the story you wanted to tell.
Photography is a communications medium you are supposed to convey a message with each photo, so I ask you “What message are you going to convey to your viewers next time you pick up a camera?”
The photo above was planned up to a certain point, i wanted to take a photo of the Las Vegas Strip in which the lights of the city were the main attraction. I decided to get that photo in the morning and the only way or the best way to get the lights were to go up the Eiffel tower at the Paris Hotel and take the photo from the observation deck. which was what happened.
