Guestblog about vision

Today a guestblog about a topic that “haunts” many shooters.

Your Vision is what makes you Unique
First, let me start off by saying thanks to Frank for asking me to do a guest blog on his site. Not only is his work amazing, but the other photographers who have written blogs here have been incredible as well. I feel honored to be in their company.

I, like many of you, am a regular reader of Frank’s blog.  I first met Frank in Orlando a couple of years ago and I loved his photographic eye and the techniques that he used to capture his vision. A little while back, I saw a post that he did on a trip to Nelson, Nevada. It’s sort of ghost town about 60 miles outside of Las Vegas. The images were incredible.  I said to myself “if I am ever out there, I have to check this place out.” Well in August I took a trip with my girlfriend to Las Vegas and I decided to set up a side trip out to Nelson. After seeing this place I knew I had to do a shoot there.  I got a model on model mayhem, went to the local camera store and rented a ranger quadra setup, showed my girlfriend how to hold a reflector properly, and then set off for Nelson at 5am the next morning.

So you have two photographers doing a fashion shoot in the same location. Both of them have light meters (I am a believer as well), big megapixel cameras, the same lighting, and beautiful assistants to hold reflectors for us. So you would expect us to come away with images that looked the same, right? Not at all. Frank and I both used the same crashed plane, pickup truck, and stretch of empty road. But the images were totally different. We see the world through a set of eyes that is unique to us. Something about our vision also drew us to the different props that were there. I saw an old caravan and a barn that struck me as interesting. While Frank was drawn to a school bus and a monster sized pickup truck. What called us to these things is unexplainable.

As photographers, we all have access to the same gear. You can drive, fly, or swim to all the same locations. But it is your vision that sets you apart from everyone else. Something about your photographic eye says, “this shot would look good from this perspective, with this lens.” It’s instinctive. And it’s what makes photography great. There are so many ways to see the world. We are all diverse individuals with many different visions.  If you have ever gone on a photo walk with a group, you always hear “I didn’t see that” or “where was that taken?” We all see the world differently.  How you see the world is way more important than what you use to capture it.

To me, the whole point of viewing other photographers’ work is not about being able to shoot things the same way they do. It’s about being able to see the world through a different set of eyes, so that the next time I am out somewhere, I can try to see more of the world. Or at least try to see it in a different way.  Whether I choose to take a certain shot or not, I am at least aware that there was a shot to be made. Anyway, thank you for reading my guest post. And if you would like to check out more of how I see the world, please visit my website at http://www.michaelwrightphoto.com/nevada-desert-shoot to see the full shoot. Thanks.