> > > > the key thing, though, is to try and photograph these things > > differently. The difference between a routine snapshot and a great > > photograph is often just a matter of trying something different > > Agreed! & thanks for sharing the Taj Mahal Pics. Cheers, Christine > > > > > > http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/enlarge/taj-maha > > l-reflection_pod_image.html > > > > http://tinyurl.com/3feslk > > > > It adds so many layers, yet still shows the Taj Mahal. Most > of us will > > never take a picture like that, but that's no reason why we > shouldn't > > try, because trying is what will make us better. > > How right your are! C
before I go scooting off to these places I like to look at photographs in different guide books and coffee table books to get a sense of how the places are portrayed by 'ordinary' travel & stock photographers*. I at least know in advance where the qualifying bar is set. I also like to look at books by Magnum & National Geographic photographers (often one and the same), and at the respective websites, to see where the world record is, so to speak. The latter usually have an entirely different way of looking at things, or turn their backs on the ordinary subject matter. I've always found it extremely useful from the point of view of my photographic education to visit places where some of my favourite photographs have been taken, and try to figure out what Barbey, McCurry or whoever saw, how they saw it and how they came up with something different. I don't want to copy their shots - I want to try and understand their thought processes. Before my week in Fez I bought Bruno Barbey's book called "Morocco", and spent a lot of time on the Magnum website looking at his pictures and those by Abbas and others. They helped me to see Fez in a way that probably wouldn't have been possible otherwise. Since I came back I've looked closely at the book and the website again, with the light of experience, and it has increased my respect for them enormously, and given me different ways of looking at and appreciating their work. Regards, Bob *I use the word 'ordinary' advisedly because it can be tremendously difficult to get any pictures at all in some places, let alone ones that are well exposed, in focus and show a great subject. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
