Question #14

Question 14. It's already been done before.

To accept the notion that it has all been done before is to embrace clichés. The problem with clichés is not that they are erroneous, but that they are oversimplified and superficial articulations of complex concepts. Clichés are detrimental because they encourage photographers to believe that they have done a sufficient job of recording a situation when in fact they have merely gazed at its surface. The simple act of taking a photograph of Niagara Falls or a pepper is no guarantee that one has communicated anything essential about that subject. Good photographers provide visual clues and information about their subject for the viewer to contemplate. They have learned how to distill and communicate what is essential to them about their subject. By deeply exploring a theme and challenging cliché, photographers can reconstruct their sight of distorted, neglected, or other aspects of a situation and gain a fresh awareness and understanding.

R. Hirsch & J. Valentino (2001)

很多人都已经作过自相照，所以它的难度在于创新。自相照——如果作得恰当——是摄影者给自己寻找定位的方法。当我们曝露镜头背后的操控者，我们便提醒了观众：这是一张经过作者过滤而成的照片。照片是主观的。无论你多么随性地按下快门，或者认真地抛开感情，你都无法避免自己的情感左右照片。

我喜欢把摄影者看作学习掌控时间的学生。我们拍摄的同时，头脑就在努力地计算曝光的时间长短。准确来说，没有一张照片是绝对静止的（也就是说时间等于零秒），因为每张照片都至少涵括了某长短的时间（最短也有1/4000秒吧）。光的作图 （photo-graph-y）其中一个要素，就是让光在感光媒介上作最恰当的曝光时间。

Time keeper. 2011. Canon 550D.