Let me introduce myself. I am an international award-winning photographer born and raised on the Rock (Newfoundland). Going forward, I will be introducing photography topics to rock the boat to generate questions, opinions and general discussion around what is practised vs what is acceptable.
When we think about what is acceptable, we might ask, “What is acceptable to whom?” The world is such a beautiful place, so we should ask ourselves if we really need to manipulate what we see in the camera. Do we leave a photograph untouched? Remove those telephone wires? Completely add a whole new sky? Create a whole image with several photographs? Do we believe that the natural way is the only way to showcase the world, or must we edit to create beautiful artwork?
Today’s society is adding more rules for the prevention of offending people, but should our artwork reflect society’s practice of rule following? Would we want to be told such things as “thou shall not break the rule of thirds and all shots should be unedited going forward”?
Do we all edit images based on what society determines is a well-produced image? There are also rules and guidelines for judging images in competitions, so it’s possible that we are indirectly transforming the photography community to toe the line to win that coveted gold medal.
Do you believe that rules are made to be broken and that the creative process is performed with no influence, rules and editing parameters? When you edit your images, do you truly edit based on what you like? Or do you edit based on what you believe social media, judges and the public will like? Do you find yourself editing images based on previous feedback? Are you influenced by social media influencers? If so, social media directly impacts your creative process! Comments from armchair experts may leave you thinking about what is wrong with your images and how you should fix them.
Why must everything be Instagram filtered or presets be used from other artists? Where is the creativity there? The world is such a beautiful place with remarkable wildlife, people, subjects and natural stories, and we should question adding fake processing to generate more likes, comments and subscribers. Isn’t an image made to create emotion? If you can produce an image to impact the viewer’s emotion, I believe you have succeeded. Even if you don’t edit out the technical flaws, if you can capture the viewer’s attention, you have done your job.
Maybe, just maybe, our photography can be used as a freedom of expression. Isn’t our creativity and freedom of expression interlinked? We must be able to explore sensitive or new areas that have been untouched if we are to truly create interesting artwork. How can you capture the viewer’s imagination if the creator is not allowed to rock the boat?
About the Author – Michael Winsor
Michael is an international award-winning professional photographer and owner of Newfoundland Photo Tours on the east coast of Canada. He has been exploring and photographing our natural world for year.
Michael has worked with PHOTONews for a cover story on Newfoundland & Labrador. He has also worked Canadian Geographic on several stories and other magazines such as Macleans, etc.… He is an ambassador for Newfoundland and Labrador through working with Newfoundland Tourism and conducting presentations by showcasing the province through my images.
Michael has won many awards including “Wildlife Photographer of the Year” and “Best Landscape of the Year” with Canadian Geographic. He has been fortunate to have a best-selling photography book that is on its second print as well. Perhaps the best thing that my work has been recognized for is having one of my images printed on an international Canadian postage stamp that was printed over 16 million times. Most recently, He has just been selected to represent Team Canada at the World Photographic Cup in Singapore.
www.newfoundlandphototours.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/WinsorPhotos
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/newfoundland_photo_tours/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/WinsorM
Hello Michael,
Looking forward to see and read what you are up to.
Gary Crallé
Thank you Gary
Loved your article! As a newbie in the world of bird photography (+/- 3 years), I have often wavered on the post-editing dilemma. We all hope to get that “perfect shot”, but perfection in this case is entirely subjective. Nothing is more rewarding than looking at a series of your shots, freshly downloaded on your computer, and thinking: “Wow! Can’t believe I got this shot! No adjustments needed here, I love it as is !” In the case of a great bird in flight shot, it’s an adrenaline rush! That said, more often than not, photos may be considered keepers with a tweak here and there (brighten the backlit subject, remove the branch sticking out of nowhere on the bird’s wing, etc.) The key is that the end result should reflect what YOU, as the photographer, feels best represents the moment you captured. No one else was in your shoes at the moment you released the shutter, and if your shot needs a little help for you to be completely happy with it, so be it! Personally, any editing I do to a photo is to please myself and not to fulfill expectations of social media platforms. In any event, the whole process of editing photos can be considered an art form and can be dependent on an individual’s creativity. As for photography contests and competitions, and their rules and regulations….that’s a whole other ball of wax, best left discussed by participants with a lot more experience than myself.
Hey Ariane,
I think you hit the nail on the head. I agree with what you said here and are on the correct path. Edit for yourself and forget what others think. As for experience, I have seen people with a natural eye that can snap a pic better than someone who has been at it all their life. Like the judging it’s all subjective, just keep exploring and having fun and the rest will come. 🙂
Brills! Can’t wait for what comes next. Thanks for writing this article – it’s given me lots of food for thought.
Thanks Pamela,
I like this avenue as it provides an opportunity to throw a few things out there that I hear from my Newfoundland Photo Tours clients regularly. We are all in this artistic journey together.
Provoking start to your series!
The world keeps changing and the tech does too. We’ve had big discussions around moving from film to digital, and even from B&W to colour back in the day. To a point we all get to decide our own path – AI imaging and unsplash are here to stay.
Yes, Al imaging is another topic for sure. Just saw a post recently that a popular photographer was just caught as a fraud because they were using AI. For me, the best part of photography is the exploring and getting out of the house. Not sure the why someone would use AI for images. But again it is new so let’s see where this will bring us.