So, what actually sets apart a clickster from a photographer or more importantly what defines "making of a picture", as opposed to "taking of photographs" (to quote Robert Kincaid, in The bridges of Madison County, I refer to the book and not the movie).
Yes, the two are very different. The former sees everything and wants to freeze them as a diary that he can later look through and remember. These visual diaries will float again and again, now thanks to social media websites which will also give you reminders, "on this day" years ago.
The latter looks at a scene a moment and designs in their head what they want to shoot. This the primary difference. The framing, the planning, the fleeting moment and the speed at which this composition happens is fast paced, spontaneous, the result invariably being remarkable. Of course there are many a photographers who actually will prepare the space to their need, lighting, angle, all precise, with subject, background, foreground, and then the right moment, Click! That too is making a picture, however that one has a rehearsed result in mind.
My interest or should I say my personal favorite be it on the street, at a venue, in the gardens, at a historical site or even shooting a beautiful landscape, is waiting for that right drama to unfold. When that sudden moment presents itself, and within seconds you have to decide, where you position yourself, to gain that edge over that perfect shot. It happens so fast. The magic happens, and is gone in a fleeting few seconds. You either nailed it or you did not. Hence people photography and street photography, give me ample joy and satisfaction. The action, the drama one can expect from them is visually stimulating and soul satisfying.
That having been said I do admire macro shot designers. And yes that's what I like to call them. They design a certain element of abstraction and revel in the cleverness, of their result. Skill here being the ability to get a good lens and getting very close to the subject. There is a sense of neatness in this method which cannot appeal to the madness, I feel, when I am behind the lens. I have my share of macro and when it comes to sharing my nikon moments I do so with my best sudden moment shots. Macro shots are for my iphone moments when I left the Nikon home and need to capture it bad.
Like everything else I approach my work spiritually and I am constantly reminded, like life, I am not in control of my surroundings and the situation and the place I am in. Its a chance, like everything else, that I am here, now and the only thing I have control over, is my settings. Hell ya, better get them right as the moment is here now, soon gone.
