Photography — It’s Not WHAT You See But HOW You See It

When I first came across this quote by Erwitt, it hit me like a ton of bricks…

“To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place… I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.” — Elliott Erwitt

I immediately realized it was an eternal truth and it changed everything about how I look at my photography and what I want to accomplish with it.

Which is why you often see me writing about PASSION.

I think PASSION has everything to do with how you see things.

I look at Darth Vader and it brings a flood of thoughts and emotions from my childhood, from my desire to explore space, from my love of all things science fiction, from my admiration for great filmmaking, from — well you get the idea.

When my next door neighbor sees Darth Vader, he only thinks about whether or not that would be something that could entertain his kid for a while during work periods.

Darth Vader is unchanged regardless of how we see him. He is — Darth Vader. But HOW we see him changes based on who WE are and what our connection is to him.

This is really simple. If you are passionate about something — or someone — or someplace, you will see it differently than someone who is not passionate about those same people, places or things.

And THAT is where the difference is made for photographers.

It’s not something you have to think about. It’s not something you need to worry about. It’s just naturally going to be something that catches your attention in a meaningful way so your photographs will come more from the heart and less from the mind — which is a good thing.

Throughout my photographic life I have (mostly) been able to make a living photographing subjects I am passionate about. I got my start as a motor sports photographer and as a kid who grew up a few miles from the famous Brickyard (where the Indy 500 runs,) I felt lucky. I got to hang out with race car drivers and I was indeed passionate about auto racing. I wasn’t a great photographer back then by a long shot. But I got paid on passion.

When I moved from motor sports to portraits and weddings, I admit, I wasn’t passionate about it but it paid well and it was my least fulfilling time as a photographer. I quickly moved on to do outdoor work with nature, eventually photographing birds and wildlife.

When I switched to JUST birds, my lifelong passion for them took over and I’d say I upped my game 10X. I started getting lots of exposure — lots of jobs — won lots of contests — got published in major magazines and got asked to be an Olympus Visionary, etc.

The direct connection between passion and success is obvious to me because it happened to me. Of course we all measure success differently, but by my own metrics, I was successful.

Since the pandemic, I’ve suffered several major medical problems and those problems — combined with loss of business due to COVID, left me with no choice but to retire.

That doesn’t mean I can’t or won’t still make photographs. I just switched to another passion of mine — pop culture — like Star Wars. Action figure/toy photography has become my new passion and I’m having the time of my life. Lots of you have contacted me to say you don’t get it. I am fine with that. All that matters is that I get it.

And the lesson for all of us is to understand the quote I used at the top of this article. “…[p]hotography has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them!

Give this some thought and make sure that you care about your subjects. If you do, you will see them differently than people who do not care about them, and that is where you will find photographic success.

I’m rooting for you.

Remember, toys are joy.