Personal photography
We’ve all heard many photographers talk about storytelling in their photography. How many YT videos can you find on the subject? It’s become such accepted wisdom in the creative world that questioning it feels almost heretical. But when we look at it closely, it doesn’t make sense, and it’s all about how we actually experience photographs.
It seems that the majority of amateur photographers go through the same predictable journey that you can track through their gear. They begin their journey convinced that better gear will make them better photographers. Some end it knowing the opposite is true.
In September, we organised a Substack event where people shared photos from a day in their life. Participants from all over the world took part and produced a book showing that day to everyone.
Most great photographers are said to have a style. Something that instantly identifies their photographs as theirs to the initiated (think Ansel Adams, Cartier-Bresson, Moriyama). But is it something you need to pursue?
If you’re serious about photography, at some point the question will need to be addressed: should you become a professional?
It’s Sunday. It’s still rainy in Oslo. It really feels like I travelled from summer to November in a day.
Toot! Toot! I’m traveling to Oslo this week.
You’re at the doctor’s for a scheduled appointment. It’s heaving. Even more than usual. Apparently, the temporary secretary doesn’t know how to manage bookings and she books too many people at once. So what do you do? You take photos at the surgery of course!
Switching to monochrome has changed how I see photography from the conceptual viewpoint, but also from the process viewpoint.
To me, photography, isn’t just a medium for artistic expression or documentation. It creates an implicit social contract between the photographer, the subject, and the eventual viewer. That contract involves layers of trust, interpretation, and cultural negotiation that exist whenever an image is captured and shared. The social contract of photography shapes not just the image itself but the way it is interpreted across different social and cultural contexts.
