Don’t Think

“Don’t think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It’s self-conscious, and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can’t try to do things. You simply must do things.”

— Ray Bradbury

I’ve often thought about, and even written about, the distinction between the cerebral and emotive sides of photography.  On one hand, we are “gear focused” forever talking about the latest lenses, megapixels, chromatic aberrations, burst rates and on and on. The camera manufacturers want us focused on gear so that we continue to buy the latest and greatest equipment to create our photographs. On the other hand, creating art is typically emanating from not the head, but from the heart, from emotion or from intuition, often guided by the head to execute it technically.  These days, the limiting factor in creating stunning images is NOT in our gear…the limiting factor is us, the 6″ of space behind the camera that does all the compositional work. The motto of “don’t think” too much is something that has almost become a mantra for me.

Know your gear….another step in removing the logical mind from the image making process

I do realize that for some, the cerebral, thinking part of photography is enjoyable and I’m in full support of that.  What comes to mind though is that if you want to “think” to create a photograph, apply that thinking in more relevant ways than just the technical settings.  Getting to know your camera settings, menus and buttons should be the first step in freeing up some thinking power to focus on more important elements of image creation.  Once you know your gear, your mind is freed up to work on the more creative aspects of photography.  If you still consider yourself a cerebral person and what to engage the logical side of the brain in the act of making images, then I might suggest you focus your thinking energy into other areas away from the technical side of the gear.  The study of compositional techniques can be a fascinating one that really engages the logical brain.  Working out relationships, visual weight, spatial considerations, etc…are all logical thoughts that you can work though.  Another area of study could be how we as humans process visual information and using that learning in the creation of your photographs.  Art and Visual Perception is a book I’ve mentioned before that delves in to this topic in great (excruciating) detail and it’s a book I pick up several times a year.

Follow your heart

We should never deny the power of intuition or hesitate to follow its revelations. I have found that when I have to labor over a composition I seldom achieve anything worthwhile… It seems as if the mind is constantly churning facts, moments, relationships, and concepts, and reverberating to the input of information and the flowering of emotion. It is essential that the artist trust the mechanisms of both intellect and creative vision. The conscious introspective critical attitude has no place in the luminous moments of creative expression, but should be reserved for later, when the work is complete.” — Ansel Adams in ‘Examples: The Making of 40 Photographs’

Once you know your gear and your informed about compositional techniques and perceptive realities, now is the time to “let go”, don’t think, and get in touch with your subject and shoot what moves you.  Shooting from the heart, with intuition as your guide, imparts more emotion in to your photographs and hopefully as a result creates a more connective experience with anyone who sees it.  These days, I focus more on trying to capture the emotions I’m feeling while on location; the sights, smells, sounds, emotions and my mental states.  It’s my way of working to truly show my own artistic vision, my eye, a window in to my soul, though my photography.

People often ask me how they can “find their vision”.  I won’t get in to all the reasons why this is a loaded question, but I will use the question here to say that everything else aside, to tap in to your vision, to impart your own sense of how you see the world in your photographs, you need to get past the logical thinking phase of photography and shoot more from the heart and emotion that is inside you.  Of course the image needs to be technically acceptable, but the technical parts are not the important parts.  The balance, emotion, weight, relationships, even the subject, are the parts of a photograph that people will see and feel and most importantly, respond to and remember.  Even if you don’t ever show your photographs to anyone else, your future self (5 years from now) will not be as concerned with the technical aspects of the photograph, but instead will focus on the more emotive side of the image.