Tag: words

Dunes of Nude No. 119 (from my recent Death Valley trip)

Last week I asked the following question:

Someone is looking at your work and says: tell me about your Vision.

How do you respond?

Here’s my response:

When you look at my images, you are seeing my Vision.

Why use inadequate words to describe my Vision when the image says everything?

~ ~ ~

Only once in my life have I tried to put my Vision into words: a friend, blind from birth, asked me to describe my work and Vision to her. I asked how could I describe things which she had never seen? She said that she created mental images based on my descriptions. I’ve always wondered what my images looked like to her.

~ ~ ~

I enjoyed everyone’s comments and could see that semantics, different perspectives and honest differences of opinion were all in evidence. May I offer my viewpoint?

Vision can be elusive and hard to discover, yet I believe it to be an incredibly simple concept:

Vision is simply how I see things, based on my life experiences.

Because we’ve all had different life experiences, we all have different Visions. But everyone has a Vision!

Vision is much different than a look or a style. And once you start following your Vision, your work will not all start looking the same. Vision transcends a look, a style and techniques. 

Vision is expressed through our images and unlike Harvey the Pooka, your Vision can be seen by everyone (you have to be over 50 or a movie buff to get the reference).

Vision is the most important ingredient in your image, it’s what makes it unique and “yours.” It is more important than your camera, lens, process or any piece of software that you use. And no amount of technical perfection, unusual technique or unique subject matter can compensate for a lack of Vision.

An image without a Vision is just a…well, just a picture.

Cole

Ancient Stones No. 23 – Alabama Hills – 2014

In the beginning was the scene, and the scene was good.

But not everyone could see the scene, and so man invented photography so that all could enjoy the beauty.

And then other men invented the art expert.  The experts did not think it was enough to simply see the beauty of the scene, they needed to describe the scene and tell us what it meant.

And that was not good.

~     ~     ~

We like to say that a picture is worth 1000 words. So why do some feel the need to describe a beautiful image with a few paltry words?

People ask me “what are you saying with your image?” and I respond: “look at it, what is it saying to you?”

The words from Depeche Mode’s “Enjoy the Silence” echo in my head:

All I ever wanted
All I ever needed
Is here in my arms
Words are very unnecessary
They can only do harm

Enjoy the image, enjoy the silence.  

Cole