seeing your vision
From the Merriam Webster dictionary;
vision is “a thought, concept, or object formed by the imagination“.
It is often remarked that someone “has a good eye for a picture”. But what does that mean? We all live in the same world, viewing it with a similar set of eyes, yet some have an uncanny way of creating images that others miss.
The difference between the one who stands out from the crowd and others is vision. Vision cannot be taught; it is unique to each individual and built from a sum of experiences and emotions.
As photographers we may have fallen into the trap of shooting to recreate work that has left an impression on us. While this is acceptable (and even encouraged) as we learn, imitation longer in a longer term comes at the expense of developing our own voice.
I am reminded of this visiting the blog of a photographer I admire - Cole Thompson. Cole recalls an encounter where a critic commented that Cole’s work reminded him of Ansel Adams. Cole recounts he was quite pleased with the remark until the cutting follow up - that Ansel had already done Ansel, and that such work could not be bettered. This resulted in self-reflection by Cole, choosing to remove himself from viewing the work of others for a period (he calls it photographic celibacy). This was done to minimalize the influence of others, allowing Cole to concentrate on finding and developing a personal style.
Thus the challenge remains to understand and develop your own vision - to experiment rather than mimic and be brave enough to face head on not only critics but your own self-doubt.
So where do you start? Like so many I personally felt unsure about my own vision until faced with a question - how would others view my work?
That question forced me to review my favorite works and to identify common themes. In doing so I discovered that my most treasured images have similar traits, providing a roadmap for future endeavors. Once the ingredients that are important to us are understood it allows us to build on a common framework and provides a much clearer vision of what we might achieve.
My recommendation for others who may face this challenging question is to perform a similar process - identify 20 or more of your most favorite photographs (the ones that provide the greatest personal satisfaction, not those cherished by others) and drill down to search for commonalities. Hopefully you will discover a set of unique images that really stand out and speak to you and help you realize your style - this understanding will help form your vision henceforth.
I will leave you with a few related quotes;
“Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others.”
— Jonathan Swift
“The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision. ”
— Helen Keller
“Sight allows us to view things as they are, vision allows us to imagine what they could be”
— Alan Brown
