Sami Serola
I'm just looking to find out more about the world and if it turns out there is a simple ultimate law which explains everything, so be it; that would be very nice to discover. If it turns out it's like an onion with millions of layers and we're just sick and tired of looking at the layers, then that's the way it is. ... My interest in science is to simply find out more about the world.~Richard Feynman
For me it looks like it's more likely an onion, except I have not yet became sick and tired of looking at the layers. It is the quite opposite. And I suppose it was the same for Richard Feynman. If I ever feel tired, I actually start looking at the layers, pictures taken by others, or my own. I often feel jealous for what others have accomplished, and sometimes I even become jealous for what I have manage to achieve months or years earlier. But all that jealousy works only as an inspiration and catalyst to try harder.
And that's what the process is about. One may claim there is not much science in art and photography, but for me it is very much a similar process. I study the works of other's, make a review out of it, form a hypothesis, conduct some empirical experiments, and then hopefully manage to come up with some promising findings and results. And if the process has been very successful indeed, I even manage to form a "theory", which I can try to replicate.
But the real point is there's not exactly so much new discovered, and the layers indeed have a great deal of resemblance between them. To find something new, one has to find a new way to combine what's already known.
All this in mind I somewhat intentionally and also subconsciously have approach for example the eye-level assignment I wrote about in my previous article. I for example realized how interesting it can be when I start the photography session by first selecting the focal length and try to shoot eye-level. It sort of opens my eyes to see world in a new way. And I also find ways to combine there into the image my own old ideas and "mannerisms", like Mr Nobody and maximalism.
Forcing myself to use only certain focal length, I can not "zoom in" or "zoom out", and then I have to decide what to de with the space. Or whether to step closer or further. And the same is with the camera level. I need to take what I see more seriously, and sort of find a way around the limitations I have set to myself. And by doing so, I indeed discover something new!
And that's what the process is about. One may claim there is not much science in art and photography, but for me it is very much a similar process. I study the works of other's, make a review out of it, form a hypothesis, conduct some empirical experiments, and then hopefully manage to come up with some promising findings and results. And if the process has been very successful indeed, I even manage to form a "theory", which I can try to replicate.
But the real point is there's not exactly so much new discovered, and the layers indeed have a great deal of resemblance between them. To find something new, one has to find a new way to combine what's already known.
All this in mind I somewhat intentionally and also subconsciously have approach for example the eye-level assignment I wrote about in my previous article. I for example realized how interesting it can be when I start the photography session by first selecting the focal length and try to shoot eye-level. It sort of opens my eyes to see world in a new way. And I also find ways to combine there into the image my own old ideas and "mannerisms", like Mr Nobody and maximalism.
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| Afternoon light |
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