Where do you point as a photographer?
Sunday 2 January 2022, 16:08 by Elvira Smit | 3,701 views | 0 commentsThis article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.
As a photographer, you do nothing other than point to something. That goes for everyone who makes, writes or presents something. With this article, I point to my ideas, and with my photos, to places and phenomena I find worthwhile. What do you point to, and who are you pointing it out to?
A writer, a photographer, a sculptor, they all point to something. They show the viewer something. 'Look, this is here'. Or 'look, I made this'.
If it works well, you briefly see the world through someone else's eyes. You see something new. Or you look at something in a different way.
I read somewhere that the painter Al Held once said:
'Conceptual art is just pointing at things'
It's funny how something so diverse can be summed up in that one sentence. We point to something, that's it. Quite liberating, really. Because the only question I still need to answer is: what am I pointing to?
A magnifying glass
By pointing to something, for example with a photo series, you magnify reality. You direct attention to something specific, something that you saw. So you are like a magnifying glass for others.
You only know whether that works by asking your viewers what they see. If that matches what you wanted to say, you're well on your way.
And that's useful because it can help you work out where you stand as a photographer.
Ask yourself:
What are you pointing to? And who are you doing it for?
Whose pointing finger are you looking at?
The reverse question is at least as interesting: whose gaze do you like to follow? Which blogs do you follow, which books do you read, which films do you watch?
Those are all impressions that influence the way you see. Be careful about what you look at. The more clutter you see, the more muddled your own view becomes.
About the author
Ik heb een eigen fotografieblog, Kronkeling. Daar schrijf ik om de week twee artikelen. Over hoe je je blik kunt scherpen, je creativiteit kunt aanwakkeren, en over fotografen die mij inspireren. Geen technische zaken, wél over hoe je leert kijken. En dat blijkt nog een hele klus. Een mooi startpunt zijn de Kronkeltips, die vind je hier.
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Photofacts; everything to do with photography!
Would you like to take better photos and keep up with what is happening in photography? Photofacts publishes articles that teach you something about photography — from a product announcement to a practical shooting tip or a look at a website. Photofacts covers photography every day and is a hobby project of Elja Trum's that got out of hand. The articles are written by a team of volunteer authors. If you would enjoy writing one or more articles for Photofacts, do get in touch.More about PhotofactsPhotofacts is made possible in part by
