Seeing Like a Painter

[johnastovall]

Seeing Like a Painter

"When we confront a landscape, we are surrounded by a chaos of visual elements. The scene challenges us to extract a unique composition that encapsulates the character and emotional impact we sense at that moment. We need to get past the overt subject, the postcard view, to pick out the unobvious yet significant aspects.

I always approached photography from the point of view of an artist. Until the age of 22 I thought of myself as a painter, working on watercolors, studying composition and technique at the University of Washington, and internalizing the history of both Western and Eastern traditions. My interest in photography was an outgrowth of my climbing in the Cascades of Washington, a way to record my adventures, but when I committed to photography, I naturally applied my background to the new medium. I was uninterested in being a documentarian.


I found the European Impressionists and Post-Impressionists inspirational – Van Gough, Monet, Gaugin – while incorporating the innovations of the American Abstract
Expressionists as well: de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, and others. Among photographers I found a kindred spirit in Ernest Haas...."

Excellent article reminding us a photograph first starts in the emulsion of the mind. Read it and think about it.

[Pawpaw]

Thanks for the inspiration - plenty of food for thought!

[johnastovall]

I forgot the link to the full article. It is now in the original post.

[pcdeatherage]

this looks like some good stuff...thanks very much...