learning from light

the power of photography as education

In the picture above, I absolutely adore the little tipping of light at the top of the clouds. I now know instinctively how I am going to find that and enjoy it. I am so much more aware of the angle of light in December versus May. I did not realise that 30 months back but I am taking myself out repeatedly to photograph amid changes in lighting minute by minute.

I used to think that photography centered on the subject serving at the center of an exposure. Of course, it’s more important to focus on something interesting rather than something that does not draw your attention. You’re wondering whether I am the last person in the world to figure this out.

Photography, especially over the almost three years of the the pandemic, taught me the essence is something else: it’s the light involved in each and every exposure the camera takes. Where is the light? What is its quality? Is the light from the top down onto something? Are clouds dark underneath because light can’t get up under those clouds in many cases? Does it really matter if you provide backlight for a flower or isn’t it enough if thre is some light around the area I am photography? (Uh, no, that is not enough at all. Better if the photograph is actually in the sunlight so I don’t have to figure out the needs of each item). seemingless endless questions to ponder.

I raise this tonight, however, because no photograph is worth much without light. Light is emitted from something to allow us to see it.

I could go on. I love to go on about this topic.

I allowed myself to see: I learned all of this by photographing things, not merely reading a book about what photography does. I haven’t taken any classes, but I am learning the essentials. I am not a particularly good photographer but I am an incredibly passionate, dedicated one and I am learning so much. The learning really results from the lessons I learned on my own about doing the act of taking pictures. I get excited to see light effects and now can start to plan against them. Without doing this for two and a half years daily, I am sure I would still see photography pretty superficially not matter how long I have looked at it.

Photography is a metaphor for so much of life. We have a tendency to sit, watching, fearing, or studying it rather than doing and learning from it. We learn when we do—period. Is that cool or what? We tend to wait until we get it right which is a good thing. But, we can savour what we learn by doing as well and gradually are extremely likely to see improvement and vastly greater knowledge.

It is so worth at least trying something we don’t have great expertise in because the process teaches us so much. It also quietly builds our resilience to try new things, stretching all parts of us.

I am not a great photographer as I said but I am thrilled to engage with the camera every day, however, because it feels like a dialogue about and with light. I recommend finding something you can do to learn from like this. The personal rewards are amazing—and we are never too late to learn. FIN