Photographs Should Speak for Themselves
My Photography Galleries are hosted at www.rakmilphotography.com
If something catches your eye it’s probably worth photographing and spending some time thinking about what it was that caught your eye and how to capture it.
We can argue all day about defining an amateur and a professional. One thing is for sure, a professional has to sell his work and an amateur would like to. One pro in a forum I follow said he retired to be a full-time amateur. The amateur can shoot for himself, ignore a few rules and get the kind of results they are happy with.
A case in point; I was chasing some ducks, a species I had never seen before, along a water edge trying to get close enough without spooking them. That’s the back-story that applies to about fifty shots taken in a ten-minute span. Below is one of those photographs.
I decided that I would post this specific shot it to a photographic forum as something I was proud of. I got one tepid comment. It seems to be a picture that appeals uniquely to me. Nonetheless its proudly on my Smugmug website at www.rakmilphotography.com
So yes photographs speak for themselves, they should not need captions and keywords, but you have to decide who and what they speak to and what they say. If you are a pro you need them to speak to your client, if you are an amateur, you have the choice of showcasing what speaks to you and not just those photographs that “sell” and follow all the rules. Hence the pro retiring to be an amateur and why some pros, I believe, envy amateurs just like some amateurs envy pros.
By the way Leanne Cole in Australia just posted on one of my favourite pieces of software, Nik’s Dfine, worth reading. http://blog.leannecole.com.au/?p=76
thank you for this post.. i’m proud to be an amateur wherein there are no rules.. i can take photos that i like or what attracts me and happy with it..
January 30, 2013 at 18:54
I think it’s a great image! The way I look at it is I take pictures for myself as an amateur. It’s just an added bonus to know someone else appreciates it.
January 30, 2013 at 20:46
That’s a great analysis of amateur and pro. There is something quite freeing about going after what you want but as noted above it’s still nice when others like it. At the end of the day I still think you will end up in a better place by shooting what you like.
January 30, 2013 at 21:39
My feelings exactly!
January 31, 2013 at 01:22
Great post! I agree 100%!
February 7, 2013 at 08:11
Great pic that – the message? A mother’s love and care.
February 12, 2013 at 05:43
Photography is a canvas of what we see and want to share. NIce picture!
February 12, 2013 at 14:48
Great post, I am also proud to be an amateur! Sometimes my shots speak to me and me alone but I find it very liberating anyway x thanks for stopping by my blog
February 18, 2013 at 03:32
hi! thanks for visiting my blog. interesting blog you have here.
February 20, 2013 at 22:39
I like your duck…very expressive and with a cute punk hairdo too!!
Appreciate your visit to my neck of the woods…come anytime. I am enjoying my visit here very much!!
February 23, 2013 at 23:01
Oh such wise words.
February 25, 2013 at 10:17
Nice one
March 1, 2013 at 13:10
you have some valid points here. if you love your photo then that’s all that matters imo … thanks for stopping by.
March 5, 2013 at 00:24
Well said Sir and nice shot! D
March 5, 2013 at 18:32
Good points! I have danced to other people’s music most of my life, and it’s just great to be a happy amateur following what makes me pleased.
March 10, 2013 at 07:19
Lovely work. I love the framing on the ducks. And thank you for stopping by my humble blog and liking “Union Cemetery”.
March 13, 2013 at 18:41
Love the shot. Aside from the subject of this photograph, it tells me you were focused and totally “zoned” into capturing a moment that involved this family of ducks. To me, photography is taking time out of my life to focus on really seeing the world. It would be nice if it could be that way every moment, but I have to work, and go through a daily routine. The positive is that as a part of the process I have begun to notice the way the sun hits a group of trees on the way to work and want to pull over and grab my camera. So my eye has become a camera on its own and my mind records it. It is teaching yourself to see differently or.. maybe just to really see.
March 23, 2013 at 09:55
Yes, words are the value-added component.
March 24, 2013 at 21:14
Nice photo. It is so true that technically perfect shots aren’t always the nicest. Nice ducks!
April 2, 2013 at 12:07
I agree – much like a joke, it is not funny if you have to explain it. I did high-end magazine photography for seven years – and nothing put me off of photography as having to do it as a “pro” – I now enjoy being an amateur photographer who can be happy with my work.
April 10, 2013 at 07:12
Well said!
April 21, 2013 at 16:48
Agree generaly, however, in some cases photos blogs are intended as a pictorial journal for family, friends, and others interested in the subject or place so a few comments about location or conditions are helpful. Your photo of the duck is very good and captures it’s “wildness” well.
April 22, 2013 at 12:57
Point taken.
April 22, 2013 at 17:05
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Thank you
April 25, 2013 at 09:12
Very thought provoking, I’ve had a potential post sitting in my drafts for a while now about what makes someone a photographer? Surely anyone who takes photographs is a photographer but the classic definition is of someone who gets paid to take photographs. The advent of digital has changed the face of photography so much I’m not sure there is a definition any more. Sadly I think there are a lot of ‘photographers’ out there who live to criticise (or ignore) because a photo doesn’t fit their idea of what makes a good photo. If you’re proud of it then it’s good and all we can do is strive to create something that we think is good and I think your Duck photo is great. In a perfect [photographer's] world we’d sit for hours in a hide to capture the perfect wildlife shot but in reality very few of us have the resource or time to be able to do that so all we can do is capture a moment that grabs our attention as best we can and I think you’ve done a great job here. BTW I’ve never seen a Duck like that either and I love Ducks.
April 27, 2013 at 13:34
Having been on both sides of the pro/am I like shooting what I like. As someone above said. “It is so freeing.” All that said I still enjoy a viewer of my work saying, “I really like what you do.” I like it even more when they say, “I want to but that photograph, I have just the place for it in my home.”
May 1, 2013 at 10:15
Thanks for the “like”….my two cents? Shoot what you love, what you find interesting and all the rest of it will work out.
May 5, 2013 at 21:44
Thanks for the like, too, and this shoot does appeal to me too:)
May 9, 2013 at 08:47
Thanks for encouraging the ‘Amateur’ photographer … invaluable insights. Maybe the professionals miss the forest for the trees sometimes. I think your pic is very appealing!
Thank you for liking my photo blog too.
May 11, 2013 at 06:32
Thank you for visiting. I looked at your Smugmug website and you have some beautiful photos. I felt the same way about my “Bowed Down and Dying Post” which got a lukewarm response. But you know when you’re shooting, it is all about what appeals to you whether anyone else likes/gets it or not. BTW, thanks for the like of my post “Magnolias Against A Blue Sky”.
May 14, 2013 at 17:32
Hello, Victor. I’m back after a too-long absence. Just to say: I’ve been trawling through the galleries (e.g. the intimate shots and children in Indian and Nepal) and have encountered many sublime images. Glad you still like “In search of unusual destinations”, by the way. All good wishes. Phil.
May 17, 2013 at 01:43
I really enjoyed your thoughts on professional/amateur photographer, and what we’re doing. I’m definitely amateur (I was professional on the word side only), but I do shoot what catches my eye and I do think about why it had impact on me. It’s a see-think loop, isn’t it? Each enriching the other. And btw, I like this duck photo very much — the little fellow’s Mowak haircut, the reflection in the water, his bright eye, the contrast between his alert upright form and the others, curved over toward the water. Perhaps those other viewers don’t notice and wonder about ducks, so for them the photo doesn’t speak. Finally, thank you for choosing to follow my blog.
May 19, 2013 at 12:46