Photography is an art form – whether or not it’s your hobby or your career. I’m a commercial photographer, one of my latest shoots having involved Weight Watchers. In short I photograph products, be they large or small, live or inanimate.
My work spans a wide and varied environment, much of what I do is incredibly interesting, especially when you’re trying to get the perfect shot of an apple (no … really!) or you want a dog to look a certain way because you’re trying to highlight how appealing he is because the product is a new dog collar or leash.
Generally a photographer such as me will aim for two responses to their images – an emotive one and an direct one. We need the product to have en effect on the viewer – that being that they’re moved to buy the product. Emotionally we want them to feel as though they need to own whatever is being advertised.
The direct response relates to the viewer buying the product. Or not – and that’s the response we don’t want! An image can and will have a massive impact at times, sometimes an image is all that’s needed to convey a message – be that hope, despair, love or something other. Images can evoke a whole range of feeling sin the viewer, and that’s why photography is an art form.
The lighting., the backdrops, the message I’m commissioned to communicate to the target audience, this is what makes my job art. I have one chance to create a movie, a scene that speaks to the observer, and one that needs to evoke the correct response. Of course I will get it wrong at times, no artist can ever truly be sure of the reactions of so many but … we try.
When you next find yourself in a museum, at at art show, looking at a bill board or an advertisement in a magazine, think about the art and creativity that went into what it is you see. Behind every image, every shot, there was a message the photographer was trying to convey. Our pictures? We’re talking to you.
