1. Has achieved an easy familiarity with his equipment and the light sensitive materials he utilizes. In other words, he’s gotten enough technique under his belt to operate.
- Does not get hung up on technique
- Simplifies: carries no more than is necessary (not ‘dripping with equipment’)
- Knows the limits of his equipment (and himself)
- Uses the best gear he can afford
2. Has developed a flexibility of approach to (or treatment of) his subject
- Prepared: never travels without camera. “Dresses for the occasion” – ready to lie down in mud if necessary
- Ability to improvise
- Patience when required
3. Should believe that whatever he sees (excites his eye), he can photograph.
4. Instinctively frames for the strongest possible view; a compositional sense of rightness (Balance)
- “Composition is the strongest way of seeing” (Edward Weston)
- Power of Selectivity (Includes all that is essential, Excludes all that is non-essential)
5. Has an Awareness of Light
- Quantitative
- Qualitative
6. Realizes that film is cheap
- Better to overshoot and edit later.
- Bracket exposure when in doubt.
7. Approaches his subject with respect
8. Is his own severest critic
- Ruthless in editing; end result that is much stronger
- Aware of when repeating self or copying others.
- Concern for his work to be of Highest Possible Quality
- Remembers that “Artsy” rhymes with “Fartsy.”
9. Takes care not to abuse the Power of Photography.
- More than the power to record, it can interpret, convey a message, evoke emotion, inspire, depress, etc.
- Understands that photographs can lie like hell
- In portraiture: the power of choosing the right (or wrong) instant (or angle, or lighting) etc.
- Flatness of camera (monocular) vision vs. human (bi-ocular), three dimensional vision
- Time exposure: film records passages of light over time. Biological vision systems do not.
10. Is gracious enough to accept and acknowledge successful ‘Accidents’
11. Understands the difference between “Looking” and “Seeing”
- “Many look, but few see.”
- In seeing, one perceives (visually comprehends).
12. Strives for Perfection, but hopes never to achieve it
- The dullness (non-controversial) nature of perfection.
- “You’re only as good as your last photograph.”
13. Has enough self-understanding to know what he’s trying to do with his photography
- Understands the connection between his photographs and himself.
- Realizes the danger of too close an association with any one: school, system or guru
- Knows that at some point, he must go his own way.
14. Has at least some passing familiarity with the history and Big Names in Photography
- Enrichment of one’s own experience by discovering the work and writings of past kindred spirits.
- No need to replicate unknowingly what’s been done before his time.
15. Should be reconciled to spending a lifetime in the determination of What Makes a Picture
- No formula solves the problem.
- Same question as “What is Art”?
- Pattern picture, for example, must be more than a pattern to be good.
16. Is sufficiently free from dogma to disregard any (or all) of the above which do not apply to his own special situation
