Creative Photography Lab

Book Preface

Taking a picTure is a significanT evenT. You are enacting a creation—something unique that communicates feelings and ideas. A photo is a moment of your life with all the evidence of an impulse and a series of decisions. Yet we look at and take so many photos, we can forget that significance.

The first objective of this book is to help you put more of yourself into your images. This means stepping away from some of the traditional rules and techniques. It involves being a bit silly, learning to relax, and having fun making shots.

The expression of thoughts and feelings through photography is not only possible but is important for a balanced creative mind and a balanced culture. Toward that end, each assignment will give you a specific prompt to push you out the door. Think of the assignments as the starting block but not the race. Run where your imagination and discoveries lead.

The second objective is to help you better understand and use the main tool— your camera. Toward that end, most assignments will have a creative and a technical aspect to them. The creative push is the most important thing, however. You can take what you want and need from the technical prompts, but don’t let it bog down your freedom. When you are learning to drive, you spend most of your brain energy
thinking about the car and how to control it. But once you figure it out and get good at it, you can forget how the car works and start thinking about all the places you can go. By simply pushing the button on a digital camera, you can take pictures, even great pictures, and you don’t have to go beyond that if you don’t want to.