My three workouts for photographers

First things first — I hate rules! Always have. Always will.

Good. I’m glad I’ve got that off my chest. Rule number one — there are no rules! Or, to put it more cogently, all rules exist to be broken.

Seriously though, in an expressive pursuit like photography, isn’t it time to discard the word rule in favour of something more practical; something less dictatorial? In its very nature, a rule suggests that something bad is going to happen if you break it, when surely it should be implying that something good will happen if you follow it.

So, I set about searching for a better term. At first, I was tempted by the word habit, but I rejected it on the grounds that it has too many negative connotations. With further rumination, I came up with practise. It’s a good word because it suggests not only something that you should customarily do — practise what you preach — but also that you will get better by doing it — practise makes perfect. Nonetheless, as a replacement for rule, it still wasn’t the word I was looking for. What I needed was a word that was less like practising your scales and more like exercising your photography muscles. So, borrowing from the world of fitness, I have adopted (or adapted) the word workout.

Workout 1.

Rules exist to be broken — start breaking them.

Am I advocating anarchy? Far from it. This article is not sociopolitical, it’s about photography and all our other creative endeavours. Art is not about doing what’s been done before. It’s about pushing the boundaries. If we try to confine art by sentencing it to rules then we’re in danger of turning it into a science, which misses the whole point — art is one of humanity’s greatest expressions of freedom.

If we have to pick the one thing that every great image oozes by the bucket-load, then it has to be emotion. Similarly, if we’re forced to choose one quality that every great artist should possess, then surely it’s imagination. Being a rule-follower can hardly be described as imaginative. As a behaviour, it’s passive rather active. Creativity demands action.

Should our actions be ordered or disordered? A bit of both, I would say. We’d do well to remember that the Universe is founded on chaos and hates order. At its core, the modern art movements, whether in architecture, design, or the fine arts, create works that capture our imagination and excite our emotions, not because their geometrical properties are ordered, but because those properties disrupt the very environments in which they sit. Out of order comes chaos, and out of chaos comes beauty. Our task as artists, of any discipline, is to balance those three beasts. In any image that delivers great impact, you will see that the chaotic elements do not cause unintentional confusion; the ordered elements do not jar; and the aesthetic elements are neither more, nor less, than they need to be.

Workout objective.

To expand your horizons by seeing the world in different ways and, in so doing, to open yourself up to new possibilities.

Workout method.

The advent of the digital camera has left us with little or no reason not to test the limits of either our equipment or our own creativity. You are free to fire away to your heart’s content, secure in the knowledge that you won’t be wasting money on film or D&P costs.

There are two ways of conducting this workout. You can perform it reactively or proactively. The former method involves training yourself to modify how you react every time you find yourself in a situation where perceived wisdom says you cannot make the shot. There’s always a shot to be made. The latter method involves deliberately shooting images with set-ups or settings that are outside your comfort zone or generally accepted parameters.

Workout 2.

There are no conditions under which great images cannot be captured — the times when you think conditions are no good for photography are often the times when you capture your best shots.

We’ve all been there. You’re about to go out when a sentinel at the back of your mind pops up to remind you to take your camera, but your conscious mind butts in — maybe the weather’s particularly foul, or it’s the wrong time of day, or any one of a hundred other excuses — anyway, you decide to leave your kit at home and, before you know it, you’re presented with a unique photo opportunity and you’re kicking yourself for not listening to that nagging sentinel.

While the scenario above is probably a familiar one, it wasn’t the driving force for considering this particular workout. Forgetting your camera is just poor discipline, which is something that is easily identified and easily remedied. No, what drove me was something considerably more important that popped into my head while reflecting on all those situations where someone actually has both camera and opportunity but, for whatever reason, they find themselves unmotivated.

Let’s take a little time out before expanding on that because I want to talk about a subject that is very important to me — inclusivity. The world of photography is a wonderful place and it doesn’t care who you are. It doesn’t care about your age. It doesn’t care about your gender. It doesn’t care about your education. It doesn’t care about the country you were born in, or the body you live in, or the state of your mind.

For me, those last two points are critical. Photography is an enabler for people of all abilities. You might think that having half-reasonable vision is a prerequisite for anyone wanting to become a successful photographer, but let’s revisit my opening statement – there are no conditions under which great images cannot be captured. A friend of mine illustrates this apparent dilemma perfectly. He has near tunnel vision. As if that weren’t enough, the limited things he does see are all monotone and blurred. Now, ponder this — what is the point of taking photos that, no matter how good they are, will look completely different to you than they do to everyone else? The frustration hardly bears thinking about. If ever you needed a reason to lack motivation then that might be a good one. Not for my friend. By reversing the situation, he created the exact stimulus he needed. After choosing the right camera, right settings, and right technique, he is now able to take images of the world as he sees it and then exhibit them so we can see the world through his eyes.

So, picking up from two paragraphs earlier, the real reason that people find themselves with an empty memory card at the end of the day, is not something external it’s something internal — and that’s a good thing because, being internal, we can fix it.

Workout method and objective.

The method and objective for this workout are the same as for Workout 1.

Workout 3.

Three things that should always be checked before releasing the shutter.

If you’re still with me at this point, then it’s time to confess that workouts one and two are deliberately esoteric. There’s a good reason for that — their purpose is to fully prepare you for the practicalities of workout three.

Have you ever experienced either of the following phenomena?

  1. You see something that you think will make a great shot but, when you look at it through the viewfinder, you immediately understand that it doesn’t work.
  2. You are casting around while looking through your viewfinder and suddenly see a great shot.

Most people will say that they experience the first example frequently and the second one less frequently. To a point, what they say is true but, in reality, they experience the second example much more frequently than they realise — only by proxy. Everyday, you will come across examples of images that you wish you’d taken — probably could have taken — but that you never saw because you failed to isolate them from their surroundings. The real lesson here is that the qualities determining when an image is going to work and when it is going to fail are actually rather straightforward — great images never contain elements that interfere with the story; nor do they omit elements that are part of it; and, very importantly, all the elements are in their correct positions on stage.

Workout objective.

To elevate your photography by:
1) Better understanding the key elements of composition.
2) Teaching yourself to see the wood amongst the trees.

Workout method.

Always check every element of the composition in your viewfinder.

  1. Does your composition contain anything that shouldn’t be there?
  2. Does it contain everything that should be there?
  3. Is everything where it should be?

Note: Cameras have changed dramatically in recent years, even in definition. Consequently, my use of the term viewfinder should be interpreted within the context of whatever device you use. I personally believe that the traditional viewfinder is a wonderful tool but I equally understand the benefits that come with using an LCD panel, particularly for those who normally wear glasses.

Parting shot

In the preamble to this article, I talked about rules without mentioning the word discipline, so here it comes now — is photography a discipline? Yes, and no. As with all the creative arts, mastering the subject requires two distinct skill sets, one practical and one conceptual. The route to success is likely to be far slower if you don’t have a good grasp of the practical skills and, in that sense, photography is a discipline. However, you are unlikely to reach the pinnacle of your art if you don’t have the visionary skills. It is in this slightly more nebulous area that I spend most of my coaching time working with clients on.

The workouts as described in this article are just an introduction to some of the core philosophies that are explored in much greater detail in my workshops. They should be seen and used as personal development tools to sit alongside your practical experience and training.

Nigel Fawcett

One of the many benefits of being retired is that I get to spend so much more time in the great outdoors, not only as a photographer but in exercising one of my other great passions — hill walking. This is a particularly good fit when one’s photography centres around nature and the landscape. There can be few better places to do that than here in the beautiful mountains of Tuscany.