observer or composer?

In high school, my first photography class was fairly typical in its formulaic assignments – still life, panning, self-portrait.  While some tasks required a staged subject, most of the time I preferred capturing a subject in its natural state.  In college, my role became fixed; I was a photojournalist.  Documenting events, capturing leisure moments on campus – these were the goal.  Later, my career changed altogether and it would decades before I returned to photography in any serious way.  Like so many, the birth of my children spurred me to pick up my old SLR.

I still prefer to hide behind my lens, to be the observer.  I shift, I climb, I maneuver to get just the right perspective – or to stay hidden.  I wait to see what unfolds.  I have learned there are times to wait, and times to snap away.  Then I love to look and find what secrets I’ve trapped inside my camera.  To bear witness to the beauty, the drama, the heartbreak around us is a magnificent skill.

But I am awakening to the idea that I have secrets to tell.  In sharing them I must control more that my perspective.  I must manipulate.  I must stage my subject; place it in the light just so.  I must interject myself into the image.  I cannot hide.  I see many that do this so well, who in the composition of their images reveal themselves, their secrets.  Embarking on the 365 project, I have found myself pushed more and more into this role of composer … and I’m learning to embrace it.

What is your primary role as a photographer?  Observer or a composer?  Today, try wearing a different hat.  Show us your unique perspective on the world around you.  Or play a very active role in creating your art … and maybe share a little secret.

Images and words courtesy of Amy Bader (aka Life in Eden) who is also our gracious moderator-extraordinaire for our Shutter Sisters 365 Flickr group. Amy, you rock!

Comments

[Marcie]

There are moments when I find myself only the observer:
http://www.marciescudderphotography.com/index.php?showimage=1118
And other moments where I have to admit that I am very much a composer...waiting for that perfect composition to unfold:
http://www.marciescudderphotography.com/index.php?showimage=1116

[curious girl]

this is a wonderful post. thank you for the thought-provoking words and ideas.

[Beatriz Macias]

What a great post. Your words resonate with me, as I considered myself an observer, capturing serendipity as it unfolds: http://www.flickr.com/photos/suitcasecontents/4287388567/
But the 365 project is pushing me to open my mind and my shutter to other possibilities: http://www.flickr.com/photos/suitcasecontents/4408756784/

[cdscott]

Now you've got me thinking. At first, I thought I was more an observer, like here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cdscottphoto/4376689080/in/set-72157623480633740/

But then looking through some of my images, I definitely have the composer in me, but I'm usually composing the ridiculous, like here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cdscottphoto/4376661554/in/set-72157623480580464/

[lucy]

i think of myself as a revealer -- showing something in a new way that gives it special meaning or beauty:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lucyloomis/4428657684/

[melissa]

Here is my recent attempt at a 'different hat' in photography: http://melissamillerphotos.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/03/flower-macros.html

[ari]

I love the two pictures in this post, they are soooo perfect!!

I consider myself mainly an observer:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/curiousillusion/4458702454/

But every once in a while I stick myself in the picture, even though I feel all sorts of funky about it:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/curiousillusion/4451741543/

[Amie aka MammaLoves]

I straddle the fence. I'd say I tend more to observer but i do help shots along that I see developing. I staged a shot the other day and it was challenging. Either way, I too am most comfortable behind the camera.

[Liz]

i will always prefer being behind the camera and i think i've always found more comfort in composing a shot. shooting still life has just always been my thing. but at the same time i am very much an observer of light. lighting can inspire me to move an object from one place to another.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/photogliz/4396525752/in/set-72157617714309424/
but even when i'm not setting up a still life shot. i tend to search for an angle that gives me exactly what i want, which in a way is composing too. so i guess either way i'm a composer, i like to be in control.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/photogliz/3485069066/in/set-72157616782672872/

thank you for this post! it is bound to make a girl think, it would be a challenge for me to be a true observer and know exactly when to snap and when not to. maybe i'll try it out this week :)

[Crisse]

Mostly I'm an observer. I enjoying being behind the lens and capturing the world as it unfolds for me. Like here http://www.flickr.com/photos/tildabelle/4458539609/. But then there are the moments when a little bit of encouragement (composing) from me is just whats needed to capture the feel that I am after, like here, http://www.flickr.com/photos/tildabelle/4415556661/.

Thanks for such a great post and lovely photos!

[Sarah]

Wow interesting question..had to think about it for a minute. I guess generally I am an observer. I prefer a candid shot over a posed one at least in my own work. But now and again of late I have been finding as I take shots of children..a good pose can be lots of fun. I think artwise..I focus on macros mainly. I am always looking for that next nature shot of some little world I would have missed otherwise and seldom conduct there. I do think as I grow as a photographer I am and will be conducting more and more! Wonderful post , Sarah

[JoLyn]

This post is wonderful--it's really making me think. I think I like being the observer, watching what's happening and catching the perfect shot. But I'm learning to compose and create the shots I want. Here are some of my observations--some nature outtakes.

http://www.ayearofhappy.com/2010/03/nature-outtakes.html

[beth]

I'm the observer who proves it with photos....if that even makes sense :)
here's my blog post from the other day...one of my many "how many strangers can I photograph" days.....

http://moredoors.blogspot.com/2010/03/they-always-say-yes.html

[georgia]

i really had not thought about which one of these i am, but now you have me thinking and reflecting on this. so thank you.

[DorkyMum]

I definitely see myself as an observer, and I guess my aim is to capture things that other people might walk by without noticing.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dorkymum/4445153233/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dorkymum/4437739323/

Occasionally though I'll take the time to set something up at home. Most recently, I wanted to grab a few shots of my husband's battered old chucks before they were thrown out!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dorkymum/4346014904/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dorkymum/4345269135/

[Juju]

Having been an English teacher and a writer for most of my adult life, I'm still just becoming acquainted with my visually oriented self. For that reason, so far I've been mainly an observer. I subscribe to the ideas of James Joyce, who practiced a scrupulous realism in his fiction, with "the conviction that he is a very bold man who dares to alter in the presentment, still more to deform, whatever he has seen and heard." (I hasten to add "a very bold woman" as well!) Like Joyce in his fiction, I want to use my camera not to alter (compose) but to observe and record the attention-grabbing subtext beneath the everyday surface.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/juju-b/4381161700/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/juju-b/4459589443/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/juju-b/4419927375/

[spread your wings]

what an excellent post. I have shared this link with my daughter - we have been talking about this very thing recently.
she tends to be very much a composer of her images - highly orchestrated in many cases. i believe her teacher wants her to branch out and try being the observer. there is beauty, and a place, for both approaches.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/shutterxdown/2481441010/in/set-72157604951578363/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/shutterxdown/4382982635/in/set-72157623542557255/

I, on the other hand, try to be an observer
http://www.flickr.com/photos/autumnsun/4002002960/in/set-72157614801406937/
but also like to compose in the traditional sense, as a painter would.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/autumnsun/4002646349/in/set-72157622565654714/

excellent and well written post. thank you.

[Puna]

I've been playing with HDR...I like it sometimes:)

http://lifesignatures.org/wordpress/2010/03/march-24-national-portrait-gallery-washington-dc/#comments

[Tara R.]

I posted something today about how I need to be braver in my photography. That I need to not worry about how I look if I need to do something odd, like lying on the ground to get the perspective I want. The image from this link is what I hoped for, but I think it could have been better if I had been prepared to be more of an accurate observer.


http://ifmomsaysok.wordpress.com/2010/03/24/stop-to-smell-the-flowers/

[Kim Klassen]

oh what a fabulous and oh so thoughtful posting...
i'm most definitely the observer! :)

love the images too....xxo, kim

[wendy]

Mostly I like to observe,,,I love to observe actually, you see all the little things that are so fascinating.

http://awebert.wordpress.com/2010/02/20/whatup/

But I like to compose at times...

http://awebert.wordpress.com/2010/02/02/m/

[Laura]

I prefer to be an observer, but there are times when I have to be a composer.

[Cara]

I am an observer and tend to get my best shots as things unfold. I have found a need at time to be a composer doing a 365 project and all but find that part to be very difficult for me.

[xanthe]

lovely post, very thought provoking..... i think i like to be both at times.

thank you for using my heartbreak shot x.

[Shelly]

I'm definitely an observer most of the time, capturing spur of the moment shots.

[Jenny]

This is such an interesting question. When I first started out I would have said I was more of an observer. The more I shoot I realize that even with subjects moving through their natural course I still compose in the choices I make when taking the photograph. To shoot into the light or away. To be above or below. To engage in play or to fade back and let things unfold. I find it also depends on the client as to which end of the spectrum I end up on.

Observer: http://jenniferblaauwphotography.blogspot.com/2009/09/summer-of-discovery.html
Composer: http://jenniferblaauwphotography.blogspot.com/2009/10/so-flexible.html
Both: http://jenniferblaauwphotography.blogspot.com/2009/10/spinning.html

[Jennie]

I love this post, it poses such a great question. I think I go back and forth but tend to be more of an observer (and I'm nowhere near as talented as you, I just like to play around!).

Your blog is one of my faves in my reader so sending you some lovin' via the "I Love Your Blog" award. :) http://bit.ly/9S08A5

[Valerie]

Often I am a composer. But last night I followed my son and he cruised around in the late afternoon sun. He's on the cusp of walking and I hear toddlers thin down once they get active. I simply wanted to preserve some of that gorgeous baby roundness before it vanishes forever. http://journeyleaf.typepad.com/journeyleaf/2010/03/irresistible.html

[Mike Langer]

Make no mistake-- photographers are always composers, artists, and manipulators, no matter how much we try to capture "the thing itself" or try to be an "observer". Photojournalists manipulate as much as the commercial portrait photographer, whether they realize it or not...