all pictures ~ (embiggenable)
WHEN I TRAVEL IT IS ALWAYS MY INTENTION to make pictures of what I see. The challenge of doing so is to make pictures that convey a sense of place that do not look like pretty picture postcards. Actually, truth be told, that ain’t too much of a challenge cuz my vision dictates how I see what I see. And pretty picture postcard pictures just ain’t part of that program.
That written, when one is a stranger in a strange (to you) land, the temptation to make pretty postcard pictures can be a powerful force. You know…you see some thing-aka: a people, a place or a thing-that looks different than what you are used to seeing back home and wham-o, you wanna make a picture of the thing forgetting that the best picture can be more than just a picture of a thing. It’s kinda like a Pavlovian going home to mama, rules of picture making wise, by reverting to the idiotic advice that, when you are making a picture of some thing, you must simplify. That is, to eliminate any thing (or things) that “detract” a viewer’s attention from the thing you wish to picture.
Now, if your picture making intention is to make pictures for the picture viewing simple-minded, that’s good advice. However, if your intention is to make pictures that invite a viewer’s visual senses to spent a little time moseying around your picture’s real estate, providing a little more visual information, iMo, is the way to go.
Of course, the counterpoint to my way of picture making thinking is that too much information can cause a viewer to struggle with figuring out the point of a picture. To which I write, “Good.”, cuz maybe, just maybe, that consternation might just lead a viewer to the idea that the “point” of a picture is the picture itself, not just the thing that it depicts.