VISUALISATION - transforming visual thoughts into photo realities
By Darren Jew
Originally published as one of Darren's regular "Take only pictures" columns in Wildlife Australia magazine.
While modern cameras allow a clear picture to be 'taken' without much thought at all, good photographs usually need a lot more input than the simple act of loading film and the release of a shutter button.
The upside of simplicity is that you can buy a camera, take a walk, point the camera at something that looks nice, and get a result that looks ok. Kind-of the photo equivalent of paint-by-numbers. But like their brush-working cousins, at a point, some picture-takers make the decision to exercise a little more control over their chosen medium - add some creativity if you like.
Some photographers choose to make the decisions about how they will creatively render their subject based on visualisation.
Simply, visualisation is all about deciding how you want a photograph to look, well before the time of exposure.
THE POWER OF BLACK AND WHITE, IN COLOUR
By Darren Jew
Originally published as one of Darren's regular "Take only pictures" columns in Wildlife Australia magazine.
Painters, sculptors, composers are all hands-on creative artists, but point a camera at a subject and anyone would get the same photograph, right? While there is some truth to the charge - point, press and capture - the camera is just a tool for capturing visual information. In reality every photograph is an act of interpretation by the photographer - from selection and composition of subject; timing and lighting; lens and filter choice; shutter speed and aperture settings, even capture medium (black and white or colour film or, increasingly common nowadays, digital). I guess that's why you can get good photographs and bad photographs of the same subject matter.
THE STORIES BEHIND THE PICTURES
Here you'll find an insight into the making of some of my pictures.
Each story can be downloaded as a pdf that you can print and keep.
River of Gold
Canyon walls reflect an afternoon glow into the lower chute of the Mitchell Falls, the Kimberley, Western Australia, May 2003
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The isolation of the Mitchell Plateau keeps it off the itinerary of all but the more adventurous Kimberley travellers (some make it in by 4WD; others choose to come by air).
Once Upon an Oryx
Namib Desert, on the south-west coast of Africa, July 1999
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A couple of hours before dawn, I have woken my friends, taken a cup of thick coffee and set off toward the dunes of my dreams. My first morning on the ground in Namibia, and I have vivid images of warm light, long shadows, and towering dunes etched in my mind.