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Seeing Beneath The Surface Of Things

Lesson 8 from: Mastering the Art of Photography

Chris Weston

Seeing Beneath The Surface Of Things

Lesson 8 from: Mastering the Art of Photography

Chris Weston

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Lesson Info

8. Seeing Beneath The Surface Of Things

Getting beneath the surface of things is key to creative photography. Chris compares his passport photograph with a masterful portrait to demonstrate the difference between the semblance of a subject and its essence.
Next Lesson: Finding Inspiration

Lessons

Class Trailer
1

Class Introduction - Three Steps To Creative Photography

03:48
2

Firing The Creative Mind - Part 1: The Camera Points Both Ways

03:10
3

Firing The Creative Mind - Part 2: Letting Go Of Judgement

06:53
4

Firing The Creative Mind - Part 3: Detaching From Outcomes

04:12
5

Practicing Mindfulness In Photography

02:43
6

Finding The Visual Narrative

02:39
7

Behind-the-scenes: Naples

07:52
8

Seeing Beneath The Surface Of Things

02:30

Lesson Info

Seeing Beneath The Surface Of Things

Do me a favor. Go grab your passport or any photo ID. You can put me on hold while you go get it. Okay. Now look at the picture of yourself. What does it say about you? Not much, right? It says that this is what you look like on the day it was taken, when you weren't allowed to smile or show any emotion whatsoever. Truth be told, if it's anything like mine, it probably says that is what you'd look like if you ever got arrested. Your passport photo tells the immigration officer what you look like The semblance of you. What it doesn't tell them is anything about who you are. What makes you you? Now take a look at this magazine cover. Study it. What can you tell me about this person from their picture alone, They're powerful, confident their hands on. They have a playful, almost cheeky side of their disposition. While this portrait reveals is not just what the subject looks like, where their personality and their character, too. This is the difference between semblance and essence between...

the outward appearance of a subject, place or thing, and it's intrinsic nature or indispensable quality Here's another example of capturing the essence of a subject. The great wildebeest migration, which takes place every year in East Africa, is one of nature's greatest spectacles, but it's actually pretty tough to photograph. Well, much of the time is just an enormous brown mass of animals, and there's so much going on, it's hard to know where to point your camera now. When I was there a couple of years ago, what struck me most was not the river crossing itself, but the interaction between the zebra and the wilder beast. It reminded me of how I imagine a battle from the First World War would have manifested. The zebra were like military generals directing the action the wildebeest with, uh, Tommy's, the infantry under orders charging over the top to an unknown destiny. Amidst the smoke and the dust and the turmoil. Many wouldn't make it, but charged they did with this image. That was the essence of the story I wanted to tell. That's what you should be aiming to get to the bottom of with your photography, the quintessence, the substance, the spirit of your subjects. Postcard shots focus on semblance. Great photographs reach for the heart

Ratings and Reviews

Gary Hook
 

Wow, what a wonderful journey. I love the concept of telling a story with one's photos and as I go through past images, I'm seeing them in a much different perspective. That's the good news, The bad? The lost opportunities I never 'saw' before; however that is a good thing. There is so much to internalize with the material so that it can get out of the head and into the 'heart'. I also found the concept really helps me with composition, both in camera and post. Biggest take away, as Chris underscored in his closing, is to slooooow down, take the time and feel it. Don't be so quick to leave one scene as there remain other aspects, yet to be discovered. A great experience that I truly enjoyed Thank you

Glenda
 

I loved this course - in particular the latter part of it in which he demonstrated how post processing lets you really tell the story of the image. Another fabulous course. Thanks Chris & thanks Creative Live.

Abdullah Alahmari
 

Thanks a lot to mr. Chris Weston This course is great and It is a 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 course for me. Beside the other course ( mastering photographic composition and visual storytelling) both courses are Complementing to each other and highly recommended.

Student Work

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