April 18 2016

How the Soul of the Photograph Trumps Technical Perfection

This weekend, I spent a few hours on Flipboard, it’s my favorite place to collect interesting articles. (You can find me on it, here.) I came across this great article on Feature Shoot called 17 Photographers Reveal the Hardest Life Lesson They Learned When Starting Out.

Though the post came out in January, it was new to me. I had somehow missed reading it until now. The article features inspiring words from photographers I’m familiar with like Ami Vitale (I liked her Skillshare video), Sophie Gamand from her Wet Dog series and Robin Schwartz from Amelia and the Animals. (She’s featured in our book, For Love.)

My favorite tidbit of advice came from photographer Carolyn Marks Blackwood.

“The hardest internal life lesson as a photographer was that the soul of a photograph trumps technical perfection. I was very insecure about my technical abilities in the beginning, but I had a point of view that was my own. Technical things can be learned over time, but a personal vision, the essence that touches the viewer’s heart in a photograph, comes from a place that is unique and personal in each person, and that cannot be taught.”

I’ve been struggling to get better, technically, with photography but I also need to remember that my personal vision comes from within.

Photo by Carolyn Marks Blackwood.

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