Miscellaneous notes on photographic thinking

Have you considered this question? If not, then consider from this moment, what are you taking pictures for?

With the development of technology, it is now possible to take photos by picking up a mobile phone at almost no extra cost and without too much time. The convenience of technology makes the threshold for taking pictures very low.

The scenery we will see and what happened can be recorded by taking photos, without any technology, as long as we record it completely.

The photos taken in this way have no aesthetic feeling or appreciation value, so we call it taking pictures, not photography.

Photography is a kind of creation, and it is also an art. We take pictures every day, and what we shoot is called a photo, and the result of photography is called a work. The work contains the painstaking efforts of the creator and expresses his thoughts.

Taking pictures and photography, seemingly the same, are actually different. One is to record objective facts, and the other is to express subjective feelings. The deeper you take pictures, the more you take pictures.

Unknown Scenery: From Photography to Art is a collection about photographic thinking, written by Wang Tianxi. From this book, I traced back to the source and found the essence of photography-the tools and media of expression.

Even though we are already on the road, we always forget why we started. What is the significance or purpose of photography? I never thought about it. I think excellent photographs are just beautiful. It seems that many people think like me now. This is why there are endless photography tutorials, overwhelming advertisements and full of dry goods on the Internet, all of which are teaching you how to take "good-looking" photos.

We always pay too much attention to form and ignore content. That's why there is a flood of "sugar water tablets".

What are sugar water tablets? Sugar water tablets are photos taken for taking pictures, without thinking and observation. Sugar water tablets are photos with decorative value, but they do not constitute expression, and have no practical significance and positive influence.

Excellent photographic works should be the unity of form and content. While practicing photography skills, we should pay more attention to the expression of content. "Good-looking" and empty photos are as fleeting as fireworks, leaving nothing but a good impression. For excellent photographic works, we will feel the feelings or values expressed by the author, or accept the views output by the works. In this process, our aesthetic experience is gradually deepening and our understanding of the works is constantly expanding.

In the book, the author analyzes and criticizes the formation of the phenomenon of "sugar water tablets". However, the problem of sugar water tablets is not only in the field of photography, but also in the whole art field. How to face or resist this impact? What should we do to avoid being trapped by the big current? I think this is exactly what the author really wants to convey to us through this book.