Last week, we explored the mental traps that block creative vision.
Our brains routinely rely on cognitive shortcuts to navigate daily life – fast-tracks that are incredibly beneficial. They enable us to quickly filter information to make decisions, assess risks, and navigate complexity. The human mind is a model of efficiency.
However, this mental shorthand becomes a major roadblock when it comes to developing visual literacy. In its zeal to process information quickly, the brain defaults to looking without truly seeing.
To cultivate the photographer's eye, we must retrain ourselves to think – and see – less literally.
By breaking down a scene into its raw visual components – shapes, textures, patterns, light, and shadows – we move past mere documentation and begin to translate what we’re seeing (and experiencing) into something more nuanced.
Using a few of my own photographs as examples, let's consider how removing literal labels can expand one's ability to see compositions and frame subjects in a more unique way.
The image below, made at Grand Teton National Park, illustrates the way repeating shapes - or mimicry - can be used to pull a composition together.
The dense fog on this morning was very active: expanding, contracting, shape-shifting, and moving rapidly. The key to success was patience. For context, I was hoping for a little bit of the Teton Range to be visible in the background, but to simplify the scene I wanted all the distant trees behind this foreground grouping to be obscured. Occasionally, that happened - as pictured. The cherry on top, though, is the way the band of fog rises up to mimic the shape of the trees. I waited until it rolled into position directly above the treeline before releasing the shutter.
Below is another example of repetition, also from Grand Teton National Park.
I was attracted initially to the large rock because of its position in the water. Without it there'd be too much empty space between the colorful small rocks and the beginning of the reflection. With the northern Teton Range in the background, I also liked the way the rock loosely resembled the shape of a mountain.
Once I began framing the shot, though, I realized the white stripe running through the granite seemed almost as if it were a line drawing of Mount Moran. Literal repetition!
Relationships between objects can help you identify stories and envision compositions. The next photograph, made at the Hoh Rainforest at Olympic National Park, illustrates how you can find order out of chaos by thinking less literally.
Forests can be difficult to shoot, particularly when you're standing "on the inside," surrounded by trees. Visual clutter abounds, the light is often a challenge, and it can be tough to find a clear subject.
It's often helpful to compose more tightly. Here, I wanted to isolate the spectacular, lush vegetation. You don't need to show entire trees to establish context. Abundant, thick moss makes it clear that this is a rainforest.
I've marked the photo so you can see the relationships I saw between objects. I used the dynamic asymmetry of the three trees to frame the fern, which anchors the foreground.
Repeating lines are also something you'll often find in the landscape. This next photograph, made at Shenandoah National Park, is another forest, but this time captured from the outside looking in. From this vantage point - away from the center of the visual clutter - it's easier to find patterns.
While this was a very rainy afternoon with mostly flat light, the sun occasionally found a way through the overcast; the shafts of light created this wonderful series of lines. While the beautiful spring greens were striking to look at, until the sun produced this pattern there was nothing particularly photogenic about the scene (at least to my eye).
The lines established "order" in the composition while also emphasizing the pocket of trees in the lower left which were showing off their colorful early spring hues of chartreuse (early foliage) and red (buds). The nearest lower-left diagonal calls out that corner triangle where the colors are different than the tones you see in the rest of the photo.
These are just a few examples of how disperate the landscape appears when perceived by the creative eye rather than the literal brain.
There is no "right" or "wrong" about what you see.
Moving a few feet to the right or left, or changing your perspective (higher, lower, different focal range, etc.) may present a whole new array of shapes, lines and patterns. Think of the possibilities if you were to hike 50 yards...
When you hear someone suggest, "There's always something to shoot" or "You can never 'wear out' a location," this is what they're talking about.
Your imagination - your creative eye - is uniquely yours. What you see from one day to the next, in the exact same place, might be completely different. The images you make may look nothing like what the photographer standing nearby is shooting. This is fantastic! It means you can create unique work anywhere.
Notice things. Keep an open mind. Use your imagination. Have confidence in your own vision.
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