Ian Furniss Photography » Blog Archive

Preconceptions

Preconceptions. Everyone has them and as often as not, they are as useless as they are useful. Personally I’ve always had something of a love/hate relationship with them due to growing up as a punk/goth and being on the wrong end of everyone elses. People would take one look at me, see my appearance, and that was it. Judgement made, sentence passed, and little or no right to appeal. Now i’m not going to stand here and say that I was any different, I had my preconceptions as well, but that’s the thing, we all have them and at least as often as we are right with them, we’re wrong as well.

So what’s the point? Well, i’m not going to go into a long discussion about psychology and philosophy, this is still a photography post after all, suffice to say that they are one of the things that allow us to plan ahead. Planning ahead is something that in most cases is essential for photographers but, like preconceptions, it can often be more trouble than it’s worth.

One of the biggest problems I had when I started out was trying to ditch my preconceptions. All excited with a day off work and a bit of sunshine hinted at on the weather reports, i’d sit down the night before, check the google maps, read the tourism articles, and then before you know it i’d be getting up at daft o’clock in the morning to catch the train and take photos of jettys sticking out into the water. Great fun! Except half the time i’d get there, be completely unable to find the jetty, and then spend the next hour or two in a desperate rush to find the &%^*£ thing before the sun went down! I think what cured me in the end was a lung-busting sprint down the beach at Talacre in Wales (at the end of a 6 to 7 mile walk from Rhyl to get there) and trying to get pictures of the lighthouse with the sun setting behind it. With all the kit I was carrying it half-killed me and I didn’t really get any shots that I was completely happy with either. Certainly none which resembled the vision in my mind from the night before.

I didn’t change overnight of course, but after that day, I certainly started making an extra effort to be more aware. You see there’s no real ‘cure’ for having preconceptions and you’ll always need to plan ahead, but the best way to live with them is to realise that the world doesn’t revolve around your wishes and needs, you are a part of what is around you and only a small part at that. I seem to be quoting Morihei Ueshiba a lot recently but that’s rarely a bad thing so … “Do not fail to learn from the pure voice of an ever-flowing mountain stream, splashing over the rocks.” or put another way, sometimes you need to adapt to your surroundings.

One example of that is a photo I took in Belgrade last summer. In a previous post I spoke about how to get around people and objects getting in the way of your shot by using layer masks. Well, sometimes the objects can be too big or too intrusive and at that point there’s no other option but to work with them. Sat in a cafe with a friend overlooking the river, things were definitely against me. For one, we were enjoying the day and although I had my gear with me, I didn’t want to start setting up in the middle of a cafe when we were trying to have a drink and a chat! Added to that, the railings were getting in the way of a clear shot, the roof was too low for me to stand up, and although I could have hung over the side of the balcony, i’d then have needed to start getting out grads and holders to deal with the sun.

The answer I went with in the end was to use the railings as the frame for the image. Going with that way of shooting the scene I was able to keep the angle I wanted whilst at the same time negating the problem of the midday sun, the blocked shot and, more importantly, get the shot without ruining an afternoon walk with a friend by being too much of a camera bore.

Rarely do we get the chance to take the shot we imagine in our minds just by walking up and pulling a camera out. Every situation we encounter is likely to have a different problem and a different solution. I certainly won’t say you should just give up on getting the shot you planned, half the time the greatest joy can come from having to really work for an image, but at the same time, it can also help to let go of the preconceived ideas you came with and go with the flow instead. Often the best things that happen to us in life come from situations we least expect and least plan out. The same can apply to photography too if we let go a little and embrace what’s around us.

p.s If you ever visit Talacre, keep an eye out for my lungs on the beach .. they’re probably still there somewhere amongst the sand dunes