What is beauty and how to find it?
As loaded the question seems to be, maybe if we stop and think it isn’t all that elusive a concept for a photographer. Our formative years of learning photography have taught us to ‘see’ and we do, we see the beauty around us. In simple things, in clean lines, in subtle shadows and in tall mountains and vistas. We see the beauty and we capture it, that fleeting moment of perfection which will never arrive just the same ever again; or the carefully crafted still life scene that took weeks of planning and assembling to get just right, we see it all. However, many of us are still plagued by the doubt in ourselves that is my work truly beautiful? Will it be appreciated? Is it worth putting on social media or the portfolio?
More often than not, it is a body of work that truly projects the beauty in one’s art as a photographer. While each picture is great and engages the audience, the body of work is what will make you one of the greats. Your pursuit hence, needs to be for that far out goal and not focussed on the day to day victory of a good photograph you are excited to share on Instagram tomorrow.
Then how do we answer if our work is beautiful? Is it even the right question to ask? The impact of a picture on the audience comes from the emotion it invokes, what it makes them think, the story it tells and what mental journey it sends them on. We need to stop looking at the simplistic approach to beauty in a photograph as that often lacks the emotional impact. For instance what kind of beauty does one expect from a commercial shoot for a clothing brand? The body of work must convey the attributes of the product in a variety of concepts and be pleasing to view. While in a gardening shot for your subject, the story is the most important part. If the subject is clearly posed, the audience doesn’t buy in and they know there is no deeper meaning to it. We need to get certain things right to tell the story right, like the costume, the placement, angles, and executing these with the intent to tell the story and make the viewer feel something, is beautiful!
Beauty comes from what the viewer feels, may it be happiness, sorrow, sympathy, anger, inspiration, conflict or laughter. The biggest impact can be to change how the viewer feels about something and some great works can change lives. As photographers we must not pander to everybody, rather find our story, the emotion we want to convey and give that to the world.
