{"id":3423,"date":"2015-04-25T09:07:39","date_gmt":"2015-04-25T17:07:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/?p=3423"},"modified":"2015-04-25T09:19:43","modified_gmt":"2015-04-25T17:19:43","slug":"journey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/2015\/04\/25\/journey\/","title":{"rendered":"It’s the Journey"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"bear_creek_spire_eastern_sierra_130713\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In my workshops I encourage the students to slow down and connect with what they are feeling before they snap a shot. The idea is to capture and make a photograph in such a way that it communicates what we experience to our viewers. I must confess, however, that in my classes I’ve ignored the other half of a communication \u2013 the viewer and his or her ability to recognize what we are trying to say. I speak of using our Creative Vocabulary, a growing body of tools, techniques, skills, and experiences, to convey what it is we have to say. But just like the vocabulary of speech, if we don\u2019t speak the same language we can\u2019t communicate.<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s also the notion of the Clich\u00e9 photograph. Many photographers avoid the clich\u00e9 like the plague, endlessly on the hunt for something new, original, never-been-done-before. Personally, I embrace the clich\u00e9, enjoying the experience and taking something that is common and making it my own.<\/p>\n

Why do I bring this up? Well, recently I’ve come across a couple of nationally recognized photographers who have expressed a new and, I\u2019d go so far as so say, revolutionary view of landscape photography.<\/p>\n

Guy Tal in his blog post Difficult Questions<\/a> makes a very interesting point that got me thinking.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is likely that many readers can recall being moved to tears by some piece of music or a familiar scent (what\u2019s known as the Proustian phenomenon), but I challenge you to think of a photograph or painting with such powerful emotive powers as to make the viewer cry.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

Tal goes on to say,<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026the image [is] its own (aesthetic) experience, which is related to, but not a substitute for, <\/b>the actual experience of the photographer at the scene.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

George Lepp<\/a>, in the April 2015 issue of Outdoor Photographer, added an editorial to his regular column titled \u201cOverexposure: An Editorial.\u201d In it he acknowledges the plethora of technically perfect, gorgeous landscape images and how some commentators are beginning to that feel in all the strong compositions, fantastic light, optimum exposure and appropriate sharpness these stunning photographs\u00a0end up being \u201csoulless.\u201d To quote Lepp,<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile there\u2019s no doubt that beautiful landscape photography is everywhere,\u00a0I’ve\u00a0spent enough time with other photographers to know I\u2019m not the only one who feels the excitement and fulfillment\u00a0that comes with discovering and capturing a place in your own way and in mastering new techniques that expand your creative interpretation.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

I can relate! After all the talk about unity, balance and visual tension, all the searching for those fleeting moments of exquisite, fantastic light, it all comes down to those incomparable flashes of inspiration that grab us out of the blue. We feel a surge of excitement, a thrill, an elation that is rare in everyday life.<\/p>\n

If we think of the wise adage that, \u2018It\u2019s not the destination, it\u2019s the journey,\u201d in landscape photography it\u2019s not the expressive photograph, it\u2019s the experience of being there.<\/p>\n

As Tal sums up so eloquently,<\/p>\n

\u201cIf getting a \u201cbetter\u201d image requires diminishing the experience of wildness, flow, peace and reverence, then to hell with the better image. If a \u201cgreat\u201d composition requires prolonged time in the studio, or standing by a noisy roadway, or mingling in a crowd, or endangering the subject or the experience of others, then to hell with the great composition. If a \u201cstunning\u201d image requires the use of a drone or other noisy apparatus in a place where few sounds can be considered an improvement over silence, then to hell with the stunning image. The image is not the ultimate goal; the experience is.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

May you find inspiration in your journey.<\/p>\n

(7703)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While creating a stunning landscape photograph can be a thrill, there’s more in it for the photographer than just that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-journal"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s9Nl7-journey","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3423"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3423\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3425,"href":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3423\/revisions\/3425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}