Take a photograph that is set up perfectly, composition, lighting, scale, its all right. You take the shot and feel pleased with the outcome, but how much personal emotion went into the shot?
This is a question you should ask yourself every time you press the shutter down.
For human emotion is a powerful tool to equip your images with. It avoids images
taken without reason or understanding. It evokes feelings and emotions within the
viewer of the photograph, and it gives the image a much greater level of meaning.
As a nature photographer, any image I take has been the result of an instinctive feel
for the environment being shot. We all know that feeling you get when you reach
the summit of a mountain, or when you step into the warm sea for the first time.
Something within gives you a great satisfaction, a buzz that you cannot keep hold
off. How incredible would it be to find a photograph that could capture that feeling
and record it within an image? An image that unleashes these very emotions when
viewed. This however is no easy task. It requires a photographer that is sensitive to
their surroundings and understating of their subject. The images do not require
being laboured over, for it should be instinctive, driven by the emotion of the taker.
If it feels right, take the shot.
Of course, not everyone will see in an image what you see, and will not feel what
you feel. This is unavoidable, but you do take away some of the static feel that can
suffocate a photograph. Make your photos exciting, make them feel alive, make
them look real, and most of all, equip them with emotions.
John Threlfall is a self-taught photographer with a deep passion for nature
photography. With an upbringing in the countryside, John strives to capture his
feelings and emotions within his images. John has a Masters
Degree in 'Creative Imaging'. His work can be viewed at http://www.capturednature.com
The images capture the pure simplistic, yet breathtaking beauty that is hidden away
in rural Britain.
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