The Daily Exchange

What Makes A Photographer?

I had a friend who went around with an SLR strapped around his neck. He called himself a photographer. However, if you take a look at his shots, there was no depth; it doesn’t tell a story and doesn’t give out that kind of “feel” which we find on some pictures. 

I am no photographer so I went on a journey to find out what really makes a photographer. I grabbed my little Samsung digital camera and went on a little “shooting spree”. I tried to recreate shots made by a friend of mine who shoots for a magazine; from horizon shots to close up macro shots. However, I couldn’t manifest the same detailed shots that he takes. After a dismal tryout, I wasn’t willing to give up just yet, so I asked him for some tips. 

He taught me all about apertures, ISO and shutter speed, and how these three, when manipulated and controlled, can help you create shots that not only preserve a memory but also create an image that impacts and tells a story by itself; something that epitomizes the age old adage “a picture is worth a thousand words”.

Armed with the knowledge that I’ve garnered, I went on a second round. I walked around our village and captured sceneries and animals. However, it was a failure yet again. My pictures turned out either too dark or too bright, and I only managed to capture a few clear shots. I was dismayed but I wasn’t planning to give up just yet. I studied each shot and found out that I was either capturing with a slow or fast shutter speed which was automatically set on the camera. I figured that I had to train on something manual; something that allows me to control the shutter speed manually and has a fixed ISO and aperture size.

Lomo cams became my solution. They are these cute little toy camera which uses films to capture picture. I bought one of the types of Lomo cam and started shooting. The film that I used had an ISO of 100 and the Lomo cam had a fixed aperture of f/8 and a shutter speed of 1/100 (but you could manually vary the shutter speed so that it will open longer so that it allows more light to enter). I went around capturing moments in school and thought that this will finally be it. I was going to capture pictures that will speak for itself.

I was disappointed when the film was developed. The shots were all dark and out of 36 shots, only 13 were successfully developed because not enough light entered.

However, I was still unwilling to give up. I tried again but this time I held the shutter open longer for darker environments and shorter for brighter. I developed them and saw the fruits of my labor. The photos had the depth that I was looking for. It captured moments which tells a story of what have been happening. It has a different impact compared to the previous batches of pictures I took. Though still imperfect, I was satisfied.

That was my so called ordeal in my journey in the world of photography. It took a lot of trial and error, learning from mistakes and also the willingness to explore every aspect of photography. You see, being a photographer is not all about having a DSLR hanging from your neck, pointing at something and shooting with the built in automatic functions. Yes, it does produce clear, crisp and saturated images, but each shot does not have a purpose or a depth that can be explored further.

Photography requires a lot of patience and a keen eye for details. You got to have a lot of perspectives and not be one dimensional. A photographer is not a person who points a device that captures light in the form of an image. A photographer is an artist. A harbinger of ideas. A bringer of change. The bottom line is this: a photographer is a communicator of ideas through a medium called the camera. How are you going to communicate these ideas and change if your shots are mere “point and shoot” images rather than something that has depth and “feel” in it? 

With that in mind, I’m not going to call myself a photographer just yet. I am not worthy to be called that.

PS: Being good in photoshop also doesn’t make you a good photographer. If your shots doesn’t need heavy photoshopping then you’re an awesome photographer