Three Quotes from Within the Frame

“The subject of a photograph is not the subject matter. The subject itself is the emotion, thought or intangible that you are trying to express through the image. The subject of the photograph can be simple: family, beauty, color, or wonder—that intangible thing that you responded to when your inner photographer said, “Oh! Oh! Shoot that!”or whatever it is your inner photographer says.”--David duChemin, Within the Frame, p. 23

“Subject matter alone—separated from the craft of photography—rarely carries a photograph, and when it does it remains merely a mediocre photograph of a fascinating subject, hardly the goal of most photographers… But if you want to communicate something more, if you want to bring something new to the table, and put your own thoughts, feelings, and personality into the image, then you need to photograph your subject matter as though you’ve seen it a thousand times and then suddenly see it in a new way.”  --David duChemin, Within the Frame, p. 25

 

"Three images go into making your final photograph. The first is the image you visualize--the story you are compelled to tell. The second is the scene you capture with the camera. The third is the image you refine in post production. The better we are at all of these, the closer our final photograph will come to reflect our initial vision."David duChemin, Within the Frame, p. 41

 

At our first meeting I mentioned a number of books that I recommend. I quoted from several of them and would be hard pressed to recommend any over the others. If you will go to the Book Reviews that are posted to the Northwest Houston Photo Club Meet Up site, there is a review of each of them. The September 2011 review was on Within the Frame. Even though I am also partial to duChemin's Photographically Speaking I believe that the best of the lot to start with is Within the Frame.