Tucson, Arizona
Recently Scott Kelby came to Denver to do a full day talk, “Shoot Like a Pro, Reloaded”. Naturally I decided to go visit and heckle Scott from the back row. I do training videos for KelbyOne, and have had some fun times shooting with Scott. Sitting in the audience it was a pleasure to see how polished Scott’s presentation was; he had the audience fully engaged for hours. I always love watching other educators do their presentations to see what tips I can pick up.
Scott said one thing during the presentation that really made sense to me. We all know photography has both creative and technical aspects, but it often seems today the technical might overshadow the creative. Everyone likes to talk gear, editing, histograms, apps…these are things that help us achieve our creative goals. But Scott said “when you pick up a camera, it doesn’t matter what your profession is, you are now a photographer, an artist.” Forget about that other stuff, use the LCD preview to see your PHOTOGRAPH. Don’t get caught up in all the technical. His statement reminded me of something I mention during my composition class; “Don’t let the technical inhibit the creative.” Or as Pablo Picasso said, “The chief enemy of creativity is good sense.” Go out and shoot, develop your creativity, and focus on the photograph.