Process

On a recent post to one of the forums on Photo net someone ask the process behind taking a photograph. There were a lot of excellent responses from people with many years of experience. And I for one learned a lot reading their response. I also have my own personal thought process which, after considerable muddling around the issue and using my basic knowledge of Taoism, is really quite simple.

My thought process is, in a nutshell, Go, Look, and See. After that, it's the mechanics of capturing the image you want on film or digitally. But before you can even click the shutter you have to do the first three steps. All the camera equipment in the world isn't any good if you don't do that. It's also where I'm far from the best at it and all too often far from the best I can do. All excuses aside, it's the reality of being me.

Quite a simple process, huh? Not really if you think about it. Because while they're thought processes and actions you have to do to capture images, they're also questions asked of you as a photographer. Go asks you where and when. It's all about light, so you have to think through what you want to capture and the best place and time to be there. The how is the mechanics.

Look is about paying attention. This is who you are and who you see the world. It's your photographic perspective and expression at the first step. Where and how do you look. This leads to See, once looking what do you see. Photography has a variety of seeing, snapshot, photos, images, fine art, events, actions, portraits, nature, landscape, and so on, and it's all in what and how you see.

So, while it's simple list you can write on a postit note, it speaks volumes about who you are as a photographer and your photography.