Looking Easy

Several times over the years that I have been writing this blog I have noted frustration about how hard it is to make a really good photograph in contrast to how easy, particularly in this era of digital photography, most non-photographers think it is. Sure, it can be easy to point a digital camera at a scene and get reasonable sharpness and exposure.....but it is extremely difficult to get a truly stirring image.

You all know the famous photography joke. The one where the photographer goes to a friend's (who happens to be a cook) home for dinner and, when looking at the photographers photos, the friend tells him that they are gorgeous and that he must have a really excellent camera. On the way out the door he tells the host that dinner was exquisite and that she must have really excellent cookware.

So I have felt that level of frustration when work is seen by non-photographers.

But I'm over that now. How so? It all stemmed from the realization that artists of all genres make their art appear easy. For example, a great musician makes the playing of their instrument appear effortless. They make it look easy. But no one ever sees the years of relentless practice and refinement that they went through. No one can tell how many revisions a song went through or how many times it was practiced before being recorded and performed.

So, I guess I should feel good about people thinking it is easy to make good photographs!

On another topic....a few days back I wrote a post entitled "Small Prints". I happen to run across a post by Brooks Jensen on one of his blogs that discussed essentially the same topic that I really enjoyed reading. You can read that here.