Telling a Unique Story

October 27, 2017

As I wrote last time, one of my personal challenges is trying to find something new to say when I take a photograph, especially if it's a landscape or tourist-type shot. Indeed, I'll often skip taking a photo if I feel like I can find it already on Flickr. 

Cleveland and Sky

Here's an example. A shot of Downtown Cleveland, a skyline that's been captured over and over again.
What sets this apart, for me? It's definitely the crack in the sky, the sunlight blazing through, like some kind of science-fiction space-time rift. That's the only reason I even considered taking the shot, let alone posting it online.

 

It comes down to having an absolutely unique take on something that’s already been done, and portraying that in the finished image.

Not in technical terms, not necessarily. Sticking a bunch of personalized presets on a RAW file (or an Instagram filter) isn’t what I mean by a unique take, though that can be a part of a unique personal style.

What I mean is the actual composition of the image, the thing that drew my eye in the first place.

I’m still figuring this part out. I’m trusting to my subconscious because I often don’t see "it" until the image is open in Lightroom, but there’s the sense of having taken the shot because it felt like something was there.

 

I have a lot to learn. 

Accidental Heart

Here's an example of something that I noticed, but didn't notice that I'd noticed. I was attracted by the dappled light playing across this window, but I didn't see the heart until I was processing it later. But I *did* see the heart when I took the shot, just subconsciously.

 

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