The Art of photography

WhattheCameraSees:MakingaFinePhotograph

pinionedonthespokesofasunburst.Inthemidstofabrooding,gloomycity-

scape,a

littleclumpoftreesoffersitsscrapofshadetoasolitarywoman.

Here

is

a

worldofpowerfully

opposed

tones,ghostlyshapes,strayfloating

leavesandstrange-lookinglightingphenomena.Andyetevery

ingredient

thathasbeenusediscementedintoacompellingwhole.

Thedifferencebetweenthetwophotographersneednotbeascribedtoin-

tellect,sensitivityoranyothervaguerequisiteforsuccessinphotography.

The

firstphotographerwas

a

manofimaginationandintelligence.Hehad

excellentequipment,goodintentionsandstrongfeelingsabouthissubject

matter.Yetheproducedapicturethatlooksboring,confusedandpointless.

Hisfailure—andthesecondphotographer'ssuccess—ultimatelydepend-

edonone

vital

factor:

intelligibility.The

secondpicture

ismuchclearer

and

morecomprehensiblethanthefirst.Thefirstpictureisababbleofmany

meaningsthatdrownoneanotherout.Theviewerisunsurewhattorespond

toandcanonlyguessatthephotographer'sintention.Whatwentwrong?

Thephotographerstartedoutwith

agood

idea:

to

conveytheincongruity

oftreesgrowingin

amodernoffice

building.

Buthe

indiscriminately

piledall

sortsofingredientstogetherandhopedthatthecamerawouldautomatically

extractthemeaninghesensedwasthere.Hedidnotforgevisualorthematic

linkstoconnectoneingredienttoanotherandunifythem.

Thephotographaccords

aboutthesameamountofimportance(orunimpor-

tance)toarcade,glass,lobby,woman,treesandreflections.Thearcadewas

includedbecauseherealizedthatitmadethebuilding lookbig.Thereflection

oftheofficebuildingacrossthestreetwasincludedbecausehevaguely

feltthatitwouldmakethepicture

moreinteresting.Thereflectionsofthe

carsandtheleaflesstreewereincludedbecauseheneversawtheminthe

firstplace—andhealsomissedthedimreflectionofstillanotheroffice

buildingthatshowedupintheshinymarbleofthecolumn.Inshort,henever

reallyfiguredouthow

to

integrateallthe

elementsofthescene,andthe

resultis

incoherence.

Whatwasthesecretofthesecondphotographer'ssuccess?Hedidwhat

hispredecessordidnot:Heclarifiedhisthoughtsandfeelingsaboutthesub-

ject.He,too,wasintrigued
bythe

incongruity

oftreesinamodernoffice

building.Butinstead

ofsnappingapictureonthebasisofthistwingeofin-

terest,
heanalyzedthemeaningofthescene,andsetouttotraceitsappeal

tothesource.Herealizedthatthesetreesandthisofficebuildingwerenot

hisrealconcern.Atstakewasafundamentalincompatibility

betweennature

andurbanarchitecture.And

themorehe lookedatthescene,themorehe

detectedadefinite

biaswithinhimself.Cities,inhisview,aregrimandheart-

less,

whereasnatureisluminousandquickwithlife.Likethesunlitwoman

sittingnearthetrees,hecasthislotwithnature.

AARON

SISKIND:Asthesayinggoes,weseein

termsofoureducation.Welookattheworldand

seewhatwehavelearnedtobelieveisthereWe

havebeenconditioned

to

expect.Andindeeditis

sociallyusefulthatweagree onthefunctionof

ob/ects.But,asphotographers,wemustlearnto

relaxourbeliefs.Moveon

ob/ects

withyour

eye

straight

on,totheleft,aroundontheright.Watch

themgrowlargeasyouapproach,groupand

regroupasyoushiftyourposition.Relationships

graduallyemerge

andsometimesassert

themselveswithfinality.Andthat'syourpicture.