A friend of mine asked to see a few photos I took while on a recent vacation to Mexico so I kindly obliged her.
Not long after, I got a reply stating that she was delighted by my original photos and loved to analyze why they were pleasing to her. This is quite a compliment, not only for me but for her as well.
These “shots” were just quick snaps I took to remember the things we experienced on our trip. However, as a professional photographer I can’t help but to look at my world with the idea that capturing an image needs to have some “photographic value”.
This simply means that the images I capture are much better to look at with classical composition rules and should (when I can) tell a story. Taking a picture is a passive action when recording a scene you may want to recall at another time. Making a picture is an intention to record a scene you can continue to enjoy and maybe use to tell a story.
If a picture is “worth a thousand words”, why would you not try to use them all?
