3 Daily Excerises - Train Your Mind To See Photos Everywhere
Summary
TLDRThis video script encourages aspiring photographers to train their 'photographic eye' even without a camera. It suggests practicing by observing everyday scenes and envisioning potential photos, building a visual library of ideas. The script also emphasizes the importance of being aware and anticipating the 'decisive moment' in photography, inspired by Henry Cartier-Bresson's work. Having a plan and jotting down creative ideas can help photographers make the most of their shooting time, turning mundane situations into opportunities for capturing unique images.
Takeaways
- 📷 **Practicing Without a Camera**: You can improve your photography skills by mentally composing shots in everyday situations, even without a camera.
- 🕒 **Day-to-Day Constraints**: Time pressures often limit photography practice, but you can train your 'photographic eye' during routine activities.
- 👀 **Developing the Photographic Eye**: Regularly observing your surroundings with a view to capturing them can help develop your ability to see potential photographs.
- 🏡 **Finding Inspiration at Home**: Look closer to home for photographic subjects; the mundane can be made interesting with a different vision.
- 🌟 **The Decisive Moment**: Learn to anticipate and capture fleeting moments that elevate a scene from ordinary to extraordinary.
- 🚶♂️ **Observing the Ebb and Flow**: Practice reading and anticipating the actions and movements in your environment to capture dynamic scenes.
- 📚 **Learning from Masters**: Study the works of photography masters like Henri Cartier-Bresson to understand the concept of 'the decisive moment'.
- 📝 **Keeping a Visual Library**: Jot down or sketch ideas for photographs whenever they come to you to build a pool of inspiration.
- 📈 **Planning Ahead**: Having a plan or a set of ideas before you take photographs can help you make better use of your time and creativity.
- 🎯 **Focus and Direction**: Having a clear focus and direction for your photography can lead to more impactful and purposeful images.
Q & A
What is the main challenge faced by individuals who want to practice photography but have limited time?
-The main challenge is the pressures of day-to-day life that often prevent them from practicing photography regularly, leading to a lack of development of their photographic vision due to infrequent and rushed practice sessions.
How can one practice their photographic skills without having a camera at hand?
-By taking mental snapshots of everyday scenes and objects, considering how they could be photographed in an interesting way, thus training the 'photographic eye' without needing a camera.
What is the significance of the phrase 'the decisive moment' in photography?
-The phrase 'the decisive moment' refers to capturing a fleeting moment that elevates an image from being just pretty to a great photograph, a concept popularized by photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson.
How can one develop the ability to anticipate and capture the decisive moment in photography?
-By practicing being aware and reading the scene unfolding in front of them during everyday activities, such as during a commute or while having a coffee, to learn the patterns and anticipate interesting moments.
What is the importance of looking at common objects in a new way for photography?
-Looking at common objects in a new way can lead to unique and interesting photographs, as it trains the photographer to see possibilities in everything around them and to explore with a different vision.
Why is it beneficial to have a plan or a visual library of ideas before going out to take photographs?
-Having a plan or a visual library of ideas provides a starting point and direction for photography sessions, allowing photographers to make the best use of their time and to be prepared with concepts to explore.
What did the speaker use as a tool for jotting down photography ideas as a student?
-The speaker used a tiny A5 hardback book to jot down thumbnail sketches and ideas for photographs, which could come from various sources such as TV shows, paintings, or spontaneous thoughts.
How can one build a visual library of photography ideas?
-One can build a visual library by committing ideas to a physical or digital medium, such as sketching in a book or taking photos with a phone, which helps ingrain these ideas into their thinking process.
What is the role of awareness and focus in improving photography skills?
-Awareness and focus are crucial in training the photographic eye to see possibilities and to capture the essence of a scene. They help in being present and attentive to the unfolding moments that can make a photograph stand out.
How can thinking photographically during mundane situations help a photographer?
-Thinking photographically during mundane situations helps a photographer to practice seeing the potential for interesting shots in everyday life, which can make the most of their time when they do have a camera and also make boring times more engaging.
Outlines
📸 Developing Your Photographic Eye
This paragraph emphasizes the importance of consistently exercising one's 'photographic eye' even without a camera. The speaker suggests that due to the constraints of daily life, photographers often have limited time to practice, which can hinder the development of their skills. To overcome this, they recommend visualizing potential photographs in everyday situations, such as during a commute or while waiting. By mentally composing shots of common objects or scenes, photographers can train their eye to see beyond the ordinary and capture unique perspectives. The speaker also touches on the idea of 'the decisive moment' by Henry Cartier-Bresson, encouraging photographers to anticipate and capture fleeting moments that elevate an image from pretty to extraordinary.
🗒️ Cultivating Awareness and Planning for Photography
The second paragraph focuses on the concepts of awareness and planning in photography. It discusses how photographers can practice their craft by observing and being mindful of their surroundings, even in mundane situations. The speaker cites John Myvitz's advice to stand on a street corner and let the world flow past, which helps in overcoming the tendency to zone out common occurrences. By paying attention, photographers can discover interesting elements within the average. The paragraph also highlights the value of having a plan and a visual library of ideas, which can be jotted down in a notebook or sketched out. These ideas can later serve as a source of inspiration and a starting point for creating impactful photographs. The speaker concludes by emphasizing the importance of thinking photographically in everyday situations to make the most of the limited time available for actual photography.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Photographic Vision
💡Incremental Exercises
💡Mundane
💡Decisive Moment
💡Anticipate
💡Ebb and Flow
💡Visual Library
💡Thumbnail Sketches
💡Inspiration
💡Photographically
💡Wow Factor
Highlights
The importance of practicing photography skills even without a camera.
The challenge of finding time to practice photography amidst daily life pressures.
Developing a photographic vision through small, incremental exercises.
Practicing photography during everyday moments like the school run or a commute.
The concept of training the 'photographic eye' to see potential in everyday objects.
Using the mind's eye to visualize how to photograph common objects in an interesting way.
The idea that mundane objects can be the subject of fascinating photographs.
The notion that great photographs are not necessarily from spectacular locations.
The significance of 'the decisive moment' in photography, as introduced by Henri Cartier-Bresson.
Learning to anticipate and capture fleeting moments in a scene.
Practicing scene anticipation during everyday activities like having coffee.
The value of observing and understanding the patterns of everyday life for photography.
The concept of 'tuning in' to the world to notice interesting events within the ordinary.
The practice of jotting down photographic ideas in a notebook for future reference.
Building a visual library of images and ideas to draw inspiration from.
The advantage of having a plan and ideas before going out to take photographs.
The impact of thinking photographically on transforming mundane situations into opportunities for creative expression.
Transcripts
how's it has it unless you are a
professional photographer it is unlikely
that you have as much time as you would
like to practice your photography this
is how I actually practice and improve
my photographic skills without even
having a camera
we have all been there isn't it we
really want to go and take some
photographs but the the pressures of
day-to-day humdrum existence you know
stop us from from doing so so quite
often we are kind of confined to taking
pictures at you know very short
intervals and we spend a lot of the
beginning of that interval rushing
around trying to make the most of of
that limited time that we have
and the problem with that is that you
are trying to exercise a a muscle or in
this case a photographic Vision your
photographic eye
when it hasn't really been developed
because we're not doing the small
incremental
exercises that allows them to use our
photographic eyes as much as is possible
when we are actually out taking
photographs
the simplest way to do this which you
can do anytime on the school run on the
on the commute while you're sitting on
the train while you are at a doctor's
office what doesn't matter
just take a moment
to look around you
to see the things in front of you
to see beyond
what they normally are and think about
them in terms of
potential photographs
just idly think you know right now I'm
looking at my my mantelpiece like I just
think okay well how would I photograph
that there's a couple of picture frames
you know like a Buddha head and some
sort of German 1950s vars you know could
I photograph them in an interesting way
that's kind of what I'd like you to
start doing is to think about the things
that are in front of you to
stop just dismissing them and wasting
that time the more that you do this then
the more that you are training up that
muscle that I
to see the possibility in in everything
that's around you
and I think you'd be surprised if you
haven't done this before just how
interesting things can be when you stop
thinking of them simply as you know a
mantelpiece with some things on but as a
place to explore with a different vision
some of my favorite photographs are of
objects that are commonplace but they
are shown to us in a way that is just
it's incredible because you're like wow
that's amazing right it's it's such a a
pinprick to that balloon of an idea that
says you know we need to go somewhere
amazing to take photographs then unless
the scenery is spectacular or less it's
some sort of huge Metropolis you know or
some amazing landscape
that is kind of like near not really
worth photographing
so take the time to look
look closer to home if you've been
around photography for even a very short
period you've no doubt come across the
phrase the decisive moment and heard the
name Henry Cartier brison the reason
these two are so interlinked is because
wrote this book called the decisive
moment which is all about capturing that
fleeting
fleeting moment
when the picture happens when there is
something that occurs that elevates it
from Just something you know pretty to a
great photograph
now
you've got to look at that and go well
should he just kind of machine guns his
way through things and just steps up and
then you know then you get that Peak
moment and it's not really that simple
or tricky depending on how you want to
look at it it's more about learning to
read what's going on in front of you to
learn to anticipate the scene that is
unfolding before your eyes
you again can do this on your commutes
or you know when you're sitting having a
coffee possible on a Paris Boulevard or
maybe in a in a Starbucks in sort of you
know Middle America no matter where you
are learn to read
that action watch the ebb and the flow
of the crowds if you're at a train
station for example you know that every
you know a couple of minutes when a
train arrives people will jump off the
train people will get on the train there
will be crowds and then there will be
silence practice being tuned in to these
these passages of time of how things pan
out
again going back to John myvitz because
he's a he's a font of knowledge it has
to be said you know he talks about
standing on a street corner and
letting the world just kind of flow past
him for a while so he kind of gets over
this idea of the mundanity of what's
going on how we kind of Zone things out
and once he stopped zoning things out
then all of a sudden something
interesting happens that out of that
just averageness begins to surface the
interesting things in the averageness
because you're starting to pay attention
to them again and and I think there's a
fascinating thing we can only do this
when you're actually just sitting being
tuned in to what's going on and being
aware of of the events that surround you
you see when you put these two ideas
together you know the looking and the
awareness already you are practicing
your photography and and training up
your photographic eye so that when you
do get a chance to take photographs to
be out there with purpose with your
camera then you're not spending half an
hour trying to get back into the groove
of taking pictures of of you know
stretching and limbering up you know
you're you're making the best use of
your time and another way to make even
better use of that oh too brief period
of taking photographs is to have a plan
back when I was a photo student and of
course it was long before you know
smartphones and tablets and all that
kind of stuff like really long before
that I used to have a tiny A5 hardback
book that I would jot down in little
thumbnail sketches ideas that I had for
photographs
now this used to come from all sorts of
random places you know TV shows and you
know paintings and something I saw in a
book or just you know an idea that maybe
just popped into my head and I would jot
them down and go okay well this is
something to to revisit maybe later on
and I would encourage you to do this as
well depending on however you want to do
you can simply take you know pictures
with your with your phone or you know
indeed You Know sketch things out in a
book but once you start committing these
things to something then they are in
your your brain it's kind of going in
hand in hand with that visual library
that you're building up of pictures that
you enjoy
so you have that pool of inspiration to
to draw from later on and by making
conscious effort to write things down
it's funny how much these things go into
your actual I don't want to say
personality but the way that you think
about photographs the way that you have
at least a starting point
if you go to a landscape then you might
go okay well I've seen this sort of idea
with trees I've seen that sort of idea
with with rocks or you know whatever
same with with portraits if you are
going to a you know a model shoot one of
these kind of sessions where there's a
model you know there's been hired and
everybody goes and looks then if you
have some ideas
then at least you're not on the spot
trying to come up with something
right you've got to obey somebody said
this is what I want to try and you've
got focus and you've got Direction and
when you couple the focus and Direction
about what it is you want to take
pictures of all this is a starting point
with your trained eye that is Keen to
see possibilities that you may not be
aware of and and is aware also of
the little things that separate a good
photograph from something that has a wow
you know that people can't quite put
their finger on because you've all the
stars have aligned this is what you're
doing when you're training your eyes day
in day out even when you don't have a
camera even when you're in the most
mundane of situations
start to think photographically at the
very least it will help those very
boring times
go quickly to find out more about Henry
Cartier Persona and his decisive moment
how you can apply in your own
photography check out this video over
here I know that you'll find it
fascinating thank you ever so much for
watching and I'll see you again soon
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