My Theory

I have this theory on photography, and i am going to share it with you all. Most photographs and photographers don't capture anything. I like to think every photo can tell a story, and the really great photos do tell a story. Think of a photo you would take on a trip to Arizona. You will probably want to hand your camera off to someone and have them take a photo of you standing in front of a cactus. This is what i called a posed picture. There is nothing wrong with a posed picture. But you would look back on your trip and probably just glance at the photo, and when you share that photo with co-workers you can say "yup i was in arizona, and here is me standing in front of a cactus, here is another in front of a restaurant we ate at, and here is one in front of the hotel we stayed at," nothing to great.

I think the real art to taking pictures is to capture something real, a candid of someone looking at a cactus, some one enjoying a meal at the restaurant or enjoying the sun sitting by the pool at the hotel. My one overlying problem with all posed pictures is they never capture any emotions, people always seem to smile when you stand them in front of something and they are ready for the photo. The challenge comes when you try to think outside the scope of a posed picture, trust me they tell a better story and they are more fun to shoot. If you can capture just that right moment, you will have a great photo.