Nayad © 2010 Robin Simmons
This is the second in a series of guest posts. I asked blog visitors to answer the question “How has photography had a positive impact on your life?” and Robin wrote this response. (Thanks Robin.) This is a question I’ve been exploring in my recent series “Why Photography?”
Seeing in Frames by Robin Simmons
A few weeks ago someone wanting to learn how to take better photographs asked me the question, “How do you decide what goes into your pictures?” Without thinking, I answered, “I just see things in frames.”
Having considered it since then, I realize that my answer was vague and lacking in details such as how to compose a shot, the best lighting, and other technical information. There are books and websites and classes to help you learn how to frame and/or compose a shot, and they can do a better job than I can of explaining composition, lighting, shutter speeds, and the like, as I am not formally educated in photography and prefer to work intuitively rather than by the rules. For me, photography is play, a time to experiment with settings and framing, to lie on the ground and point up or turn the world upside down or sideways.
My answer, “I just see things in frames,” was a straightforward response. I do see things in frames. I wear glasses and have worn glasses since I was 7 years old. Everything is framed to some degree by my glasses, and photography is, in some ways, an extension of that. Photography is a medium which allows me to share with others the way I view the world and the things in the world which catch my eyes through the frames that I wear by bringing the viewer into those frames and my focus.
Through the lens of the camera I am able to see some of the details of the world, small and large, that I might otherwise miss. When I take a photo of a tiger lily I see the flower, the tiger lily. When I put that photo on the bigger screen or a print, I see the details of the tiger lily that the camera captured, details my eyes could not see. I also see things that my eyes didn’t catch when I captured the tiger lily such as a bee buzzing around the flower like a little fairy, an ant crawling up the stem, a dot of pollen perched on the edge of a petal. The camera, like my eyes and prescription glasses, also has its limitations. Light and colors, fog and haze, dust motes and seeds floating in sunlight don’t always translate well in photography. Learning post-processing techniques with Photoshop has helped me expand my vision so the photo better represents what I was seeing as I captured the scene or moment.
Photography has brought an awareness to my life and to my surroundings I don’t believe I would have without it. It brings me into the moment, eyes and mind wide open as I hike or walk, sit or stand, connecting me to where I am right now, in this moment. Carrying the camera makes me hyper-aware of the environment — spotting a small flower in the midst of some weeds or a colorful mushroom growing under a bush or any number of other things I might have otherwise passed on by without a glance much less a good look.
Above all, photography has taught me patience. I cannot capture a butterfly, a dragonfly, or one of my young granddaughters without learning to be still as they dart around in their dance of life and play. In that stillness I have learned to wait until I sense I am on the verge of the right moment and even then I may have to wait before moving slowly and cautiously to get within range of what I am trying to capture, watching the patterns that emerge, patterns I would not be able to discern without practicing stillness and patience.
Robin is a photographer living in the secondary snow-belt of northeast Ohio. Her photography interests include nature and the outdoors as well as travel. Her blog, Life in the Bogs, chronicles her daily life in Ohio as well as her travels.
