General Staff, Bentonville, NC
Great photographs have great craft and technique, but it’s not the reason they are great photographs. They are great because the artist created the work to move you intellectually and emotionally. The craft and technique are just part of the total effort in creating the art. Great technique is humble. It does not draw attention to itself while contributing to the success of the photograph
The moment that technique begins to strut its stuff the photograph becomes more about the photographer and less about the subject. Getting by the technical tour de force to get to the message is not the path to great photography. What is the first impression of the work? Is it “That makes me feel…,” or is it “Look at those great shadow and highlight details? I wonder if it was HDR’d?”
Technical proficiency is not artistic proficiency. An artist needs technical proficiency to be able to create the message he wants to communicate to his audience, but if the message is technical proficiency, the focus of the work is on the artist, not on his audience.
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