"The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera."

By alan ranger

21 Jun 2014

It's a principle that I try to instill into all my students when helping them to develop their eye for a shot.

Over the years the camera has allowed me to not only capture moments but, importantly, recognise the photographic opportunity in the first place. This is not simply a case of applying formulaic rules of composition because the photograph needs to communicate more than just the position of subjects in a frame.

For me at least, it absolutely starts with seeing something that catches my eye or I feel would translate well into a photographic format. One of the key elements I think about is of course framing and that generally means simplicity to me - less is often more and in the case of a photograph I find my own preference leans towards images that keep the content and subject unambiguous. Of course the resulting photograph doesn't tell us everything - it can't. However it should in my opinion provide us enough information to connect to it on an emotional level and ask the viewer to look for longer than 3 seconds.

Spending more than a few seconds looking at something before you press the shutter will, over time, improve your eye for seeing, feeling and learning how to create a photograph rather than simply taking one. It's an evolving journey and one that fascinates me as I witness how my own eye has evolved over the years - as a result of looking at the world through the camera the world now looks back at me in a different way.

http://www.alanranger.com/alan-ranger-blog/2014/6/18/the-camera-is-an-instrument-that-teaches-people-how-to-see-without-a-camera

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7 responses

Shayla Simmons gave props (22 Jun 2014):
Congrats on being Story of the Week!
JPG gave props (22 Jun 2014):
Congrats on being Story of the Week!
Davide Simone said (23 Jun 2014):
Congrats on being Story of the Week!
Muhajir ajir said (26 Jun 2014):
it is amazing, awesome
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John Linton gave props (27 Jun 2014):
Hell YEAH! Rad!
John Linton gave props (27 Jun 2014):
Congrats on making Story of the Week!
Indra Widi gave props (30 Jun 2014):
agree, nice stories narration, and congrats ...