Photographers: Don’t Reproduce a Subject, Abbreviate It

While on vacation this past weekend, I popped into a little art gallery and treated myself to some wonderfully inspiring eye candy. Some of the paintings I saw were geared around rich, bold colors and simple subject matter, while others were focused more on shapes and textures. I really liked the set of really cool duotone ink drawings that were made up of large areas of either white or black. Very minimalist, yet you could still clearly see what the subject was supposed to be.

Perhaps my favorite was the collection of sketches that were made by one of the painters as she planned out the ideas for her paintings. Even though I can’t draw very well, there’s something that’s always fascinated me about sketches, because in my mind, it’s about the simplest art form there is. Pencil, paper, a few lines, scribbles, maybe some shading and you’re done.

Then I saw the photographs. All landscapes. And they all sucked.

Ok, maybe I’m being a little harsh here, which is why I won’t tell you the name of this gallery. I’ll just say that the photos I saw were all bland, boring and totally uninspiring in any way. Cluttered snapshots printed on big paper and framed to look stunning. Only they weren’t stunning, they were boring. Ho hum. Back to the paintings.

As a pro photographer, am I just too jaded to appreciate these kinds of art photos? No, I’ve thought about this kind of thing a lot, and that’s not it. Here’s what it is:

You see, artists “get it.” Art is not about reproducing your subject, it’s about representing your subject. Abbreviating and showing a small part of the world in your own creative way. They’re forced to get it, because the simple fact is that painting and drawing will never look exactly like real life. Artists don’t set out to create real life, they strive to create visual representations of real life, while imparting a specific and unique flavor to their work.

As photographers, we’re not forced to “get it.” We can take our cameras and capture real life and show everything in our frames down to the last detail, which is what many beginning and struggling photographers tend to do.

However, that doesn’t cut it. As viewers, we just don’t care. We see real life every single day and so just seeing it all again just doesn’t excite us. What excites us is seeing part of it it in a way that we hadn’t thought of before; seeing it in a way that accentuates specific details that we might not have noticed as we sped through life.

Or the way that two subjects interact and relate with each other. Or the way light plays off of a certain subject at a certain time of day that only certain people ever get to see. Or a fleeting expression that communicates emotion. Or part of a subject that makes our brains imagine the rest. This a big one and one that I stress to my students all the time: Any time you can invoke the viewer’s imagination, you’ve gone a long way towards creating a successful image.

Want to be a better photographer? Go look at some art. Spend some time checking out some paintings and drawings and pay attention to how little the good ones actually show and HOW they show it. Better yet, pick up a pencil and try to draw something using as few strokes as possible, just to get a feel for how abbreviating a subject will engage your mind to fill in the rest. This helps you see more creatively.

Then, the next time you pick up your camera, instead of trying to capture, strive to create.

If you liked this post, check out my latest eBook, ZEN PHOTOGRAPHER, Turning Your Passion into Focus. It’s a collection of introspective articles about the creative and inspirational process of photography. Check it out here.