Have you ever pondered the questions, what is the subject? I ask this question a lot of my attendees when reviewing images and it’s not quite clear what the photo is about.  But today, I’m musing on the question what is the subject in a slightly different way…when the actual “thing” that I’m photographing is not the actual subject, or story, of the photograph.  As I was reviewing some folders of images I was struck by how in certain images I may have a “thing” that is the most obvious element in the photograph, but that’s not really what I’m shooting, or more specifically, not what the photograph is about.

For example, Lewis Falls is a beautiful waterfall in Southern Washington.  I’ve shot the entire waterfall many times and in many different conditions and water levels.  It’s a great waterfall and one I love visiting.   On some visits, I find myself not interested in the waterfall itself, as a subject, but instead elements of the waterfall stand out to me to work my compositions around.  For example, here’s a shot of just the flow of one section of the waterfall. In this shot, wha tis the subject? It’s not the waterfall in its entirety, it’s the shapes and textures of the water, creating beautiful shape and motion. Yes, the actual thing is the waterfall, but that’s not what I’m shooting, I’m using the waterfall as a foundation for creating something different.

 

 

Another example not shooting the actual subject is this…a really cool repeating pattern that has a lot of visual interest! This is actually the roof of a dilapidated barn. So, what is the subject? Is it a barn roof or the cool pattern? It’s the cool pattern of course and the whole reason why I shot this image.

 

Learning to see beyond the actual subject and instead see patterns, shapes, textures and colors, regardless of what the actual “thing” is is what I’m driving at here.  Even though I consider myself more of a landscape/nature photographer, I look for visual interest and compositions no matter what the actual thing is, from rusted trucks to buildings, to fishing boats.  It doesn’t matter what the larger thing is, if my subject is a portion of it and I find it interesting and compelling, then I’ll take the shot.

In this shot, I used the wheat field as a foundation for creating an image of shapes, patterns and textures.  What is the subject?  Is it the actual wheat field or is it the shape and patterns OF the wheat fields.  Yes, it’s the shapes and patterns.

 

Yes, this is a shot of stairs.  What am I doing with this?  It’s definitely not landscape or nature, so why did I take this shot?  The patterns and colors were so strong, I wanted to create an image of it.  The actual subject, or thing I’m shooting, is the stairs, but that’s not what the image is about.  Repetitive patterns, strong colors, contrasting colors….that is the story of the image.

I am asking the question of what is the subject to you in the hope to encourage you to look beyond the actual subject and instead look for interesting features in the world around you to create amazing photographs.  If we as photographers constrain our vision to only “see” actual things and those things have to fit in to our chosen genre of photography, then we will be drastically limiting our creative potential.  Seeing beyond preconceived notions of what we “should” shoot unlocks so much creative possibilities for us and shooting things that aren’t our normal subjects will help us see better in all the photography we do.  Go ahead, let yourself go and “see” the patterns, shapes, textures and colors around us.

A rope on the deck of a ferry boat.  It’s about the repeating patterns and color gradations, NOT about the rope.

 

This is a rope running down the side of a fishing boat.  Is the subject the boat or the rope?  Nope!  It’s about the color and the strong diagonal line.

 

A grizzly bear in Katmai NP.  What is the subject?  This is a bit more difficult.  Is it the bear?  Well, yes and no.  If it was about “the bear”, I would typically have the entire animal in the photograph.  But instead, this shot is about the “bears claws”. I purposefully created this shot to be about the claws as I’m fascinated by them, so they are the focal point of the image. I left just enough of the bear head so the viewer would know what they were looking at, but the face or body of the bear is not the subject, it’s the claws!