Met STUDENT at a photoshoot yesterday... I've always had high respect for his passion in photography and the manner in which he pursue it is simply inspiring...
He shared his journey of learning with me while we were having a break yesterday... He had his very first photography lesson with an established and well-known photograher in France a few years ago... This was what he learnt:
- the teacher brought STUDENT to a beautiful beach somewhere in France.
- the sunset was gorgeous.
- the instinctive thing a photographer would do would be to whip out his camera and start shooting the spectacular sunset.
- STUDENT almost started shooting the sunset when the teacher stopped him.
- the teacher said: if you've seen enough sunsets, all sunsets would probably look almost the same. That's not what a photographer should shoot.
- the teacher further probed STUDENT:
=> where are you now? (ans: on a beautiful beach with a spectacular sunset)
=> how do you feel? (ans: I feel that the sunset is spectacular, obviously)
=> and how does that make you feel deep down? (ans: I feel so previleged to see this sunset, coming all the way from S'pore)
=> and deeper still? (ans: and I feel that mother nature is so amazing>)
=> and? (ans: and I feel that I so small and powerless in this great big world.)
=> and? (ans: I feel lonely on this beautiful beach...)
=> Good. Use your camera now and shoot this lonliness that you are feeling now...
It's an amazing lesson that I learnt too...
Photography is not just about getting the technicalities and acquiring the best gears that money can buy... To really know photography, one must know oneself... Listen to oneself.. Know what one wants to express.. know how one feels...
Photography is expression... Expressing what one feels deep down... Expressing one's current state of mind... current state of feelings...
There is no absolutes in photography... no absolute rights... no absolute wrongs...
But shooting without reaching deep into oneself, the dimension and depth of an image will be missing... in other words, the SOUL of an image will be missing...
STUDENT's story sets me reflecting on my pursuit in photography... There's more yet to learn... More yet to discover... More of myself to know and explore...
I've leant... from a STUDENT...
2 comments:
huh? what does ur pic mean then? lonliness? no entry? mrt?
I was travelling alone in Osaka... these were the gantries that bring me to places... Blurred effect used to symbolise the continuous motion and the pace with which people passes through them...
Means nothing much to many... but that's what it meant to me... Hope you don't mind... ;)
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