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The Essence Of An Image

Blogs: #19 of 20

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It has occurred to me that being a photographer is a bit like being an alchemist of times past. In an image, one needs to extract and distil the essence of a subject then present it, with or without context. The main challenge is to establish just what those characteristics are in any given instance - not an easy task for a photographer on the fly. Visualisation and instinct play a large part in discovering the magical ingredients and how they react together. There is no formula for this because every situation is slightly different and that is where trial and error though experimentation is important. A successful image is one that imparts a certain something to the viewer - I call this the 'essence' and when applied to photography it's more than words and images - it's a feeling projected to the viewer.