in a literal sense photography is painting with light. Taking a three-dimensional world and capturing its essence in a two-dimensional plane. I see an increasing tendency for photographers to have more concern for the equipment than a subject in the three-dimensional world.
When I first looked through my viewfinder, the aim was to record information and share it. A very scientific approach but just as valid as the artistic forms. My background was wildlife photography, and the enjoyment was just as much observing animal behaviour as it was recording it. I learnt how to capture the important details with which I could see, showing subjects (typically shorebirds) as I saw them.
Over several years my interests changed and I now focus more on the emotional content of a photograph. Here I can use clever tricks, mostly learnt from cinematography, to distort a scene and convey different feelings. For instance, using wide-angled lenses to make a subject more isolated or conversion to black and white to avoid distraction of colour. Since my interest has changed, so has my subject. Wildlife is unpredictable at the best of times and I increasingly prefer to work with subjects where I can exercise more control.
There are too many people with cameras to deny that unique content is a rarity. I see a spectrum between unique and purely copied. As with any other art, an artist may take inspiration from the artists before them and adapt it to their own style. For instance, David Yarrow took inspiration from Ansel Adams but applied the techniques to wildlife. David’s work has been incredibly unique, and this isn’t a surprise because of how difficult it is! However, I feel that for the majority, too much work is unoriginal. We live in a world crowded by information and publishing such minute iterations of the same content does not allow development in the field. We need to learn to think more and publish less.
Ego and self-development are the reasons I see for copying previous works. We like to gain followers and likes and know that the ‘easy’ way to do this is bombard with content and hope that some sticks. When you’re starting out with photography there is a need to copy in order to learn the skills, but if you continue to copy, you aren’t adding much to the world. Sure, it may be for personal enjoyment, but then why bother publishing? Not everything we do needs to be seen. Things are just as valid even if nobody knows about them.
Photography is an art and art is personal. Art has the ability to bring people together… just look at the music industry or even more obscure arts such as Shibari. You can have a connection with art styles that you would never get with a science. It is emotional. Yet, from all the forums I have read, it seems we are losing our touch with emotions and the lifeless equipment seems to bring us together more than the art. We need to work on changing this mentality within the community. Sure, equipment is nice, I’m not denying that, but to me, that love of equipment wares away and it is the emotional content of art which keeps me going.