Hi Students,

This is a self-enrichment article on photography. As I believe that all of you have a fundamental knowledge of photography, I will choose to bypass the basics and proceed straight to the analysis of photos.  I will primarily be focusing on portraiture photography.

In addition, although the technicalities of photography are deemed to be crucial to most professional photographers, I will like to prioritise the factor of composition (Please click here for a brief introduction to composition) over the rest (such as ISO speed, aperture settings, shutter speed etc) for two primary reasons, the first of which is the fact that you will probably be bored and dozing off by the time I am done with all the technicalities.

The other reason lies in the aspect of your roles and responsibilities. Being a writer, you are responsible for your reader’s understanding of the articles that you are writing. As such, the element of composition is crucial to achieving this objective. All other elements and technicalities are secondary.  In fact, in a real-life scenario, photographers – especially news photographers – usually do not have sufficient time to control and/or adjust the technical aspects of their camera since they are often caught in the heat of the action. What’s left is often merely the art of placing all essential elements in the photo in a manner comprehensible to their readers (i.e. composition). And this is often a split-second decision. You will probably face the same scenario in most instances, such as taking photos of singers on stage where every moment counts.

However, I am not sidelining the technicalities of photography but merely putting them aside for now. Should you have any enquiries in these areas, do feel free to email me about it.

Now, let’s get back to the analysis of photos with emphasis on the composition and in a way, the photographers’ storytelling skills. I will like to begin the analysis of photos with two photos, as follows:

• Dorothea Lange’s “Migrant Mother” (Please click here for the image): This image probably evokes nurturing feelings in us. Society has often regarded males as the protector and provider of the family. However, this photograph has only included a mature lady and two children huddled close to her, thus leaving the possibility of the existence of a husband (or a family provider) open to interpretation. Viewers are only left with the individuals in the photos to work out their interpretations. From the clothing of the individuals in the photo, they seem to be impoverished. The wrinkled and dry skin on the mature lady’s face seems to reinforce this. Both the children have turned their faces away from the camera, thus the viewers are almost compelled to focus their attention on the lady’s facial expression, which speaks of desperation and of loss.  From a metaphorical perspective, the fact that the children are facing away from the lady seems to imply their reliance on her and the fact that she is looking ahead reflects her determination and acceptance of life. 

As the readers’ eyes scan the photo, their eyes will probably fall on a sleeping infant on her lap. So, there are three children and not two! Feelings of empathy will probably increase at this point.  It’s interesting that as photographers, we are able to spring some surprises on our viewers as well. As to the ways that you are able to achieve this, it’s up to your creativity.

• Giuseppe Pasquali’s “2 singles 3 couples” (Click on the photo here):  This photo is beautiful because it uses the concept of symmetry. What’s even more beautiful about this photo is the use of not one but various layers of symmetry.  Notice how the singles and couples are seated on benches that are nicely aligned with the curve of the road. Note also the converging pattern between the curve of the road with the downward-inclined line on the wall in the photo. From a metaphorical perspective, one can interpret the two lines as the coupling of singles towards marriage. Note also the use of shadows in the photos, which also form a nice symmetry along the curve of the road. The man in the foreground along with the lady on the second bench from the left completes the picture with a touch of singlehood.  Together with the few couples that line the side of the road, the image speaks of romanticism and lifelong relationships.

For practice:

Exercise 1 (Identifying elements of interest): Try to practice taking photos and selecting those that you find appealing personally and analyse them in details. Ask yourself why do you find them so memorable and show these photos to your friends. Do they share the same sentiments?  If most of your friends like the photos as much as you do, ask them to identify the elements that make them attractive and memorable.  Do your friends share the same reasons for liking the photos as yourself? If so, you have hit on something. Save the photo and tagged a note to it with your comments on the reasons for the photo’s memorability. Use it for reference when you next embark on a trip to snap some pictures.

Exercise 2 (Observing body language of subject(s)): Now, emotions and body language are never mutually exclusive, which means that they go often go together. If a person is happy, he or she will not slouch. If a person is angry, his or her body will be not be relaxed but tense. Thus, when trying to capture the emotions of someone, we should observe their body language.  Try to increase your observation power when you next walk along the streets. Look at the people around. What are they doing? Are you able to assess their actions and what are their states of mind as they go about their lives? A strong observation power is a quality that all if not most great photographers have. And it will be good to hone this skill over time.

Exercise 3 (Anticipation):  Anticipation is another quality possessed by most photographers. This is especially so when capturing images of human portraits or even group photos. Why do we need to anticipate when capturing portraits or group photos? Because we want to capture emotions. And we want genuine emotions. Have you noticed how someone – especially those whom we do not know well- whom we want to take a shot become stern or act unnaturally when they realised that someone is taking their photos in a public event (assuming that you are an event photographer)? There are many reasons for this such as shyness or introversion or merely the fact that they feel that they are not photogenic. But let’s not digress. What we want in a portraiture photo is the person “in the moment”. That is, when they are laughing, they are really laughing. When they are deep in contemplation, they are really thinking about something. This is what makes portraits of individuals or group so powerful and memorable. Thus we need to anticipate. If a group of participants are waiting for the results in a contest and when you know that this group will be among the winners, focus your camera on them and get ready. Once they have realised that they have won, they will most probably jump with joy. This is the moment that you should capture. If you were to look at the winning entries of photojournalists, you would have realised that most of these winning entries have captured “in the moment” shots of such people or groups, usually set in historic moments. In your photo-taking journey, try to anticipate moments of people and then capture these images. If done successfully, these will be among the most beautiful images you will ever capture. Try it and see.

I understand that this is a lot of hard work but as in most things in life, success in photography comes only with constant practice and self-reflections. Now, here is something interesting: we share the same basic emotions, which is happiness, sadness, anger, frustration, joy etc. Now photos are usually a good medium to use when it comes to expressing emotions (just have a look at how global photojournalists achieve this with great effect with their photos). We can thus express our emotions through photographs and enable our viewers to see the world through our eyes. Try it and see.

Exercise 4 (Understanding details in photographs):   I will like you to take pictures with more details than what you perceive your viewers will be able to capture when they take their first look at your photos. In another words, I will like you to capture images with vivid details, such that your viewers will feel compelled to look at the image more out of necessity than by choice. It can be a photo of parents and kids playing at a carnival or merely a “densely populated” image. Try to practise taking photos that makes the viewers’ eyes linger a moment longer than expected on a photo thorough a composite shot. This will prove useful to you when you capture images during a festival where there are groups of people celebrating. This is more challenging than it sounds, so do practise often.

Exercises 5 (Use of proxemics): Now, I will like you to take some photos but instead of clamming everything together, try to select your subjects of interest that are placed far from one another. Experiment with angles and distances. Take numerous shots of your subjects of interest and see which image is the best. It will be good to note that when it comes to photography, distance is your friend. How you determine the distance depends entirely on what you want to portray in your photo.

Exercise 6: (Colour versus Black and white):  Why is it that some photographers have often chosen to display their photos in black and white? What is the distinctive feature that black and white photos have that colour photos lack?  I will like you to take some photos in black and white as well as colour. Capture the same shots so that you are able to do a comparison. What’s so special with black and white photos and under what circumstances should they be used? I will leave it to you to find out the answers but here are some clues:  observe the use of light and shadows.

Photography is an art and will always remain as an art. The only way to improve is through constant practice.

Have fun!