“I really believe there are things nobody would see if I didn’t photograph them.”

Diane Arbus

Do you believe that?  Have you ever even thought that?  Perhaps additional questions would be:

DO YOU see when you photograph?   Or do you just snap away, blindly pushing the shutter button while talking to your friends.  One VERY big disadvantage of the digital age is the large LCD screen on the back of cameras today.  In an SLR (film or digital) camera, you have to look through the lens to take a picture.  It effectively shuts everything else out because you have to actually put your eye to the camera and shut the other one to frame the image. 

WHAT do you see?  Do you see anything different than anyone else?

WHY do you take pictures?  Is it to record a simple moment in time, or to make a statement about your involvement in that moment.  Each moment has a meaning, a life, a story.  Do your pictures catch that?  Is there anything you add to your pictures that someone else at the same occasion or location wouldn’t see?  If not, why not? 

I encourage you to be purposeful in your picture taking.

Imagine the gift you give to your audience by showing them things they would not have seen without your help!