architecture,  Documentary/Street

Photography is Seeing

May 26, 2015
The Atrium
The Atrium

“…painting is something you do. You make a painting. You don’t make a photograph. You see a photograph. Photography is seeing only, you see it, you release the shutter, you use your aperture, your machine and once you’ve seen it, that’s it. It’s done.” Jurgen Schadeberg

Retired. Having fun shooting Fujifilm cameras. Journal daily. Meditate daily. Learning haiku. Have a love for fountain pens.

6 Comments

  • John

    May 26, 2015 at 7:22 am

    But seeing can be passive or active… you have to act to capture a photograph, something most people do not do when they are confronted with a view like you have captured.

  • Tom Dills

    May 26, 2015 at 8:46 am

    I Googled Jurgen Schadeberg so I could know who he is, but I’m not sure I agree with this quote. I do believe that we have to see something before we can photograph it, but there are infinite possibilities for what we do once we see something. While it may not be a physical act of creation like painting or sculpture, we still need to have the ability to use the tool to create the photograph in the way we have seen it.

    I like this photograph a lot, and as I have said before I really appreciate the way you see black & white.

    • Monte Stevens

      May 26, 2015 at 8:58 am

      I agree in that I did not create the light and shadows in this image, those were given to me. My task was to be present and see what’s given then using the tools available for the composition, framing and post processing. Knowing how to use those tools is also one of our talents. He makes it sound simple. We know better. And, thanks for the compliment.

  • Mark

    May 31, 2015 at 5:09 am

    Well, if you saw this scene in the way it is represented here Monte, I think you need to see a doctor.

    Beautiful B&W by the way.