Do you "think" too much?

[petemillis]

So Rachel, what are you thinking now? Time for a glass of wine maybe?

[tonybeach]

Jeff, the statements are not "half baked".

 

Please tell us how you can change the focal length by cropping the image? That is a basic misunderstanding of the optical nature of lenses and different focal lengths. I also take issue with your other arguments as well as all of them only address half the equation and none of them are the optimal approach.

[rachelfoster]

Pete, you made me laugh!

 

Actually, I've been thinking about the amount of processing that goes on at an unconscious level. The suggestions to "shoot, don't think" may actually be advocating one allow that sort of approach emerge on occasion. It would be more likely to capture emotion while conscious cognition may be responsible for other elements of a photograph.

 

Just a thought.

[tonybeach]

Rachel, go back to the shot above I shared in this thread; like it or hate it if you will, I simply offer it as an example. Do you see that it is applying the "rule of thirds"? Not my intention when I took it and something I often try to consciously avoid, but there it is. It happened because I dialed the AF sensor that focused on the man and positioned the bridge to fill the frame -- and all the "thinking" was done in the time it took me to wheel around as I was walking in the other direction. However, I would never have known to put all the elements of the composition in the "right" place if I hadn't thought about these things and practiced them until they became second nature.

[sprouty]

<I>"...focused on the man..."</I>

<P>

That's a dude? I didn't know Levi's made manpris...

[sprouty]

(weak attempt to add levity)

[rachelfoster]

I think we are on the way to concluding both conscious and unconscious thinking are integral?

[saskphotog]

Every athlete in the world will understand the concept of "being in the zone." It is a state of mind that includes absolute attention and presence in the now, but no inner talking, no "thinking" about being in that state or it instantly dissolves. In that state all kinds of peak performances are achieved. That is precisely the state of nondoing that I referenced earlier.

 

It is also the state in which artists, craftsmen, garbage collectors, and photographers all do their best work. It is achieved through rigorous training in the technical aspects of the activity until you can trust your body to know how to do the thing without direction. Then that expertise is simply allowed work through the complete uninterrupted attention of the mind on what is being accomplished, not on how to accomplish it. He who hesitates is lost.

 

The athletics I learned best have been hockey, rugby, and Tae Kwon Do. None of them are possible if you have to think about anything at the time you are doing it.

 

All top athletes know that experience. So learn to work the camera until you can focus, expose and compose without "thinking" about that part. Then go out and let it happen to you. I suspect you will like the images that you create if you can find that zone.

[inoneeye]

the zone....so true Larry. keeping in mind the intense training, practice, hard work and

conscious effort that went into arriving at the point that you can be well prepared to

experience it.

[john_elder1]

What, the zone system?

[inoneeye]

o John. just putting an emphasis on Larrys comment regarding the rigorous training that is

required to get in '<i>the zone</i>'.

[petemillis]

One of the best times of day to shoot, when things just happen without thought, and there is no point in trying to comprehend it anyway, is during the intermediate period of illumination of the sky before sunrise and after sunset - commonly known as the twilight zone.

[petemillis]

Rachel, every time I look at PN I keep seeing the heading of this thread - "Do you think too much?". Well, I don't think I waste time thinking about my photographic attempts and not doing. But it has dawned on me that I have been spending months and years thinking about my PhD finishing up, and not doing. I think, I know exactly what I want to say in it, I know exactly how everything ties together, BUT I'm just not getting on and doing it. I can see how people may be the same with photography too.

[rachelfoster]

Pete, I have some experience with the PhD part. If you think I could possibly help by offering tips, email me. (It would be even better if we are in the same field!)

[petemillis]

Hi Rachel - I left a note on a photo you commented on, but i'll email you tomorrow anyway. Cheers. Pete

[markr1]

I have a picture with a caption that may help ................ then again, it just might not ...... :-)

 

" You who are a mystic ....... "

[rachelfoster]

Pete, I will look forward to the email.

 

"You who are a mystic..." intriguing!