{"id":6453,"date":"2021-01-02T16:23:46","date_gmt":"2021-01-02T15:23:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/speckund.me\/?p=6453"},"modified":"2021-07-04T11:25:42","modified_gmt":"2021-07-04T09:25:42","slug":"make-or-take","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/speckund.me\/w2\/make-or-take\/","title":{"rendered":"Make or Take? My thoughts about creativity."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It’s the best time to start to “make”.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Have you ever wondered what the difference is between a “good” photograph and a “bad one”?<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Of course this question is highly individual – is there a “good” and a “bad one” at all? – some may value technical aspects much more than artistic impression or overall image quality, even more than “the decisive moment” (see Henri Cartier-Bresson: “The Decisive Moment”<\/a>). Indeed it depends: There is no general rule concerning artistic value – value is always individual and therefore completely up to everyone’s own taste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless I dare to say that images taken only “because it was so beautiful” tend to disappear soon – even before they get published. Out of sight is out of mind, yet another image – next please. There is simply no story behind them, no character and a lack of indivual style, just like normal pictures that everyone takes during the holidays. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is a “good” photograph then?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A good photograph is “made”, not just “taken” or “shot”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00abYou don\u2019t make a photograph just with a camera. You bring to the act of photography all the pictures you have seen, the books you have read, the music you have heard, the people you have loved.\u00bb<\/em> \u2015 Ansel Adams<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Ansel Adams also coined the term “to make a photograph”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00ab<\/em>You don\u2019t take a photograph, you make it.\u00bb<\/em> \u2015 Ansel Adams<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Someteimes there is a long process before the photograph, starting with the emotional connection to the subject and the planning in order to finally achieve the desired artistic expression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just have a look at the most renowned photographers: Each of them has his own indivual and unique style and way of visualizing somthing. Nothing is left to fortune.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take Henri Cartier-Bresson<\/a>, for example; see also here<\/a>, the world-famous master of “The Decisive Moment”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Hy\u00e8res, France 1932 \u00a9 Henri Cartier-Bresson\/Magnum Photos.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Or take Alan Shaller<\/a>, who’s fantastic street photographs impress with the perfectly planned moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“Tate London.” \u00a9 Alan Schaller.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Or Joel Meyerowitz<\/a> and his famous double shadow image.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“New York City, 1975.” \u00a9 Joel Meyerowitz. From the Howard Greenberg Gallery.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Of course there are many other exceptional creators out there to be mentioned as well, please take Henri Cartier-Bresson, Alan Schaller and Joel Meyerowitz just as examples. They all have one in common: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They perfectly plan their photographs – waiting for the right “decisive” moment and the perfect light at the right location – nothing was left to chance.<\/em>
They finally get the perfect moment (and photograph) with their trained eye and their consistent style – by years of practice. <\/em>

They all make<\/strong> the photograph, and most important:<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Each of them takes his time to get to know<\/em> what they want to photograph.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This brings me back to the topic of this article:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They all take their time to <\/strong>get to know what they want to photograph. They make their photographs in a very conscious and consequent approach<\/em> – they do not just rush around, take thousands of pictures in order to sort them out at the end and hopefully be surprised by a few keepers.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
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Rule #1:<\/strong> Take your time to get to know your subject. It’s never been a better time to do so than right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take this (quite unspectacular) photograph of one of my windows as an example. Of course it should have been cleaned for a long time, but I left it as dirty as it was in order do photograph the color spots and reflexes of light on it later. Before the photograph I was standing at the window at least for half an hour and carefully planned the photograph. I took my time to find the best point of view, the right light, and I waited for the clouds, played with the depth of field and finally made the photograph. In post I developed the raw file to my taste – I focused on the colorful spots of light and the interesting contrasts and reflexes on the dirty surface in front of the monochromatic dull dark wintry light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Rule #2:<\/strong> What is the story behind your images? Tell a story or let them tell a story.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let me make two examples.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photowalk in Zurich<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I wanted to photograph the crowd in Zurich during the shopping rush and the madness of this big metropolis. At the Bahnhofstrasse, Zurichs main shopping mile I just had to wait for the right moment. And there it was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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From my article “Moments#5<\/a>“<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Paris<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I wanted to photograph the beauty and ease of life during my stay in Paris. My day started with a photograph of a pedestrian crossing on my walk to the bakery around the corner where I got some French Croissants early in the morning before the common Paris traffic jam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"my<\/a>
From my article “my 6 personal tips for (street-)photography”<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Later on I was stumbling over this moody bus stop. I first had a coffee next to it to plan my photograph.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"my<\/a>
From my article “my 6 personal tips for (street-)photography<\/a>“<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Near the Tour d’Eiffel I enjoyed an icecream at the fast turning carousel – a perfect symbol of the ease of life in Paris!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"my<\/a>
From my article “my 6 personal tips for (street-)photography<\/a>“<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On my way back to my hotel I finally photographed the last spots of light in the streets of Paris.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"my<\/a>
<\/a><\/strong>From my article “my 6 personal tips for (street-)photography<\/a>“<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

All of those images were “made”, not just “taken”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Rule #3:<\/strong> Make your images. Do not just take them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take yourself a lot of time for your images. See a good example of one of my best images, only one or two miles away from my home. I wanted to show the beautiful wintry wood, full of light, strong contrasts and tons of tones. The wood – I love it so much! – and tell the story behind “Storytelling”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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From my article “Visual Storytelling in 7 Steps<\/a>“<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Conclusion and learning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Rule #1:<\/strong> Take your time to get to know your subject. It has never been a better time to do so than right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rule #2:<\/strong> What is the story behind your images? Tell a story or let them tell a story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rule #3:<\/strong> Make your images. Do not just take them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Btw rule #3 could be slightly modified to: Make your<\/em> images, images you<\/em> love, do not take someone else’s images. Make your’s<\/em>. Create your<\/em> art – not someone else’s art. Whatever they (someone else) might say. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Make art for yourself – not for your friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And in Social Networks: Make Art – not friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This may sound a little harsh at the end, but couldn’t it be the logical consequence of the previous argumentation?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are your thoughts? Please let me know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Thank you for reading.
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The difference between Make and Take an Image. Why now is the best time to “Make”. My thoughts about creativity.<\/p>\n<\/a>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[890,399],"tags":[743,78,1059,1078,1079,588,490,1042,580],"class_list":{"0":"post-6453","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-create","7":"category-photography","8":"tag-grsnaps","9":"tag-speckundme","10":"tag-thestorybehindart","11":"tag-creativity","12":"tag-make-or-take","13":"tag-paris","14":"tag-photography","15":"tag-storytelling","16":"tag-zurich","17":"h-entry","18":"hentry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/speckund.me\/w2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/speckund.me\/w2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/speckund.me\/w2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/speckund.me\/w2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/speckund.me\/w2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6453"}],"version-history":[{"count":46,"href":"https:\/\/speckund.me\/w2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6453\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7429,"href":"https:\/\/speckund.me\/w2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6453\/revisions\/7429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/speckund.me\/w2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/speckund.me\/w2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/speckund.me\/w2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}