Art not Math

Photography is an art.

Did you know that? I seem to have not known, or forgotten somehow.

I thought to myself good lighting + good poses + good equipment = good photos.

That is wrong.

Today I went to see Jonathan Canlas speak at BYU about photography. He said some (many) things that got me thinking. I realized that photography is not math.

I started thinking about things I do that I consider to be artist expression. I thought about writing.

When I write, no matter what I write, it's all about me. It's filled with me. If you know me you can read it and think "THIS IS BECKY."

I write about girls who aren't me or even like me, they have different problems than me, they are different ages than me, but its all about me.

My photography should be like that. It needs to be filled with Becky. It needs to have my personality in it. I need to shoot what I love because I love it, not because I'm competing with others for THE BEST PICTURES EVER. (all caps for intensity).

Jon kept saying "You need to find your own voice in photography."

Where before I thought, "Photographers have their own style," and style is how you prefer the lighting to look, and how much you photoshop and things like that.

Writing this aloud is making me feel like a fool. (Writing aloud makes no sense, but I talk to myself while I type... so there.)

I need to stop taking pictures because I think they look good or because I think someone might give me money for them. I need to take pictures because I want to. I need to take pictures like I write.

They have to be an artistic expression.