Usually in photography I practice the concept of noticing the moments and what arises and arrives spontaneously as opposed to a staging experience i.e. purposefully choosing a subject to capture. Picking up the camera when something hits my radar of perception is second nature and this in turn mostly leads to the pleasurable treasures of intuitive photography. Recently due to the exceptional brilliance of the autumn sun through my windows there have been lots of opportunities to capture the clarity of shadows or their subtlety for that matter! Shadow photography is a favourite form of imaging for me. However, I wanted to make the shots a little more defined for added interest so this lead me to try manufacturing the outcome, or in other words staging! This doesn't come naturally to me during a photography experience for it touches on the subject of control, taking me out of the comfort zone of going with a meditative flow and into the area of thinking or a cognitive interruption. Anyway I tried a few familiar techniques such as introducing other items only to be frustrated with the outcome as the results lacked a certain 'je ne sais quoi' or x factor that you can't always verbalize but know when it is lacking! Having said that I am all for experimentation and exploring photography, like every other art-form it's all about pushing the boundaries and there are lots of artists well known for their endeavours. It's horses for courses!
I think this runs a lot deeper psychologically speaking for photography when intuitively engaged in as it mirrors what is going on inside and is what is reflected back in the work. For the intuitive painter for example, it will be a spontaneous moving about of paint to bring forth from within, whereas the classically trained artist may want to present their cognitive ideas through skills and techniques learned. There is a lot of satisfaction in building a skills-base for your art-form and some would say an essential prerequisite but for me it is when you get off of the well tried and beaten track that the real adventure begins! There is no right or wrong path of course but for me it always comes back to spontaneity which gives such a thrill when magical moments arise out of nowhere. Which brings me again onto the subject of the wonderful intuitive painters Flora Bowley & Shiloh Sophia. I was interested in their 'revolutionary' talk and what they had to say about a 'new movement' which I will be expanding on in a future post ~ Look Out.
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