Saturday, December 7, 2013

The A, B, C's of Contemplative Photography - U

U is for Understanding (and also for Unveil, and Unique, and Underlying, and Underscore, and Understanding, and...)

the knowledge and ability to ascertain
the underlying truth of a particular 
situation or subject

      A wise teacher of mine once told me that you can know much in this life but what you truly understand will be far less.  For me true wisdom comes from appreciating the difference.

     "Know-it-Alls" (especially in the field of photography) abound...I've never met an "Understand-it-All".   Contemplative photography allows us to step beyond the knowing and experience some degree of understanding.  

   It is not that the camera is some sort of magical instrument of revelation...far from it.  The camera only "knows" what is it is pointed at.  It records it, documents it, freezes it for all time.  It is impartial and non-judgmental.   Any understanding that is to occur must come from the photographer...not only from the head but from the heart.  For knowing is a "head thing" and understanding is most definately a "heart thing".


 

2 comments:

foxysue said...

This is so funny: I went into a camera shop to ask a question about view finders, I need a new camera but can only afford a middle range camera with a view finder(apparently view finders are getting rare now), the moment I asked which camera the photographer would choose I knew I had said wrong, the man pointed to the £1000+ SLRs and said they would choose from this range! Evidently head knowledge rules :~)x

Patricia Turner said...

A photographer isn't define by the content of her camera bag but by the content of her images. I tell people to relax and use what they have, even a cell phone camera. For me it is all about the perception and little about the equipment.

ps. He was probably on commission!