THERE HAS LATELY BEEN SOME CHATTER AND NATTER, re: cliche, bouncing around on the interweb. Things like, what is a cliche?, how to avoid making cliche pictures, and the like. And, as is the usual case, the answer to such conversation provides a wealth of fodder for the idea of my Top insert number here Pieces of Photography Bad Advice and Sayings project. A prime example:
Photography is fundamentally a craft...[which] still requires learnin’.'Making pictures that look like' pictures that you admire is a landmark in that process for many, perhaps most, people. So I’d encourage newbies to make many such pictures and study them....Once you’re able to intentionally make that trite image of the Grand Canyon, the Eiffel Tower, or the Brooklyn Bridge you’ve achieved competence with the gadget. Now for the fun part.
To that nonsense I say, "Balderdash". The last thing one should do, for the purpose of making fine-art, learning to use a "gadget", or, finding one's vision, is to make "pictures that look like pictures that you admire". Rather, one might consider, as Brook Jensen suggested, to stop making pictures that "look like what you have been told is a good picture and start making pictures of what you see".
That written, re: "craft" - everyone who aspires to making good pictures, fine-art wise, needs to learn how to use a "gadget". iMo, the best manner in which to do so is to stand on the street in front of where you live-same spot again and again-and make pictures in the sun, in the rain, in the snow, in the fog, in the dark to include people walking, cars driving by, dogs chasing cats, garbage cans, discarded soda straws, or whatever else you might find / see in front of you.
And, most importantly, keep it simple...one camera, one lens, and adjust only fstop, shutter speed, focus, and ISO (as might be needed). DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE, engage in any menu diving cuz the aforementioned gadget functions are all you need to "master" in order to start looking for one's own vision. iMo, menu diving is for "serious" amateurs who don't have, and quite probably will never have, their own unique vision.
In any event, the "learin'" process should only require a few weeks of one's time, 2-3 weeks at most. If it takes more than that amount of time, maybe consider selling your gadget and taking up The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
FYI, in my next entry I will address how, within 6 months of picking up a camera, I was making my living as a photo journalist. HINT It did not happen cuz I was making pictures that looked like what I was told was a good picture.
