I was talking to an artist friend of mine about photography the other day. We were talking about how the new Photoshop basically does a lot of work for the photographer. Have a power line that cuts through your shot? Photoshop will supposedly take it out. Want to fill in the side of a house? Photoshop can supposedly fill it in for you. On and on we talked about what this wondrous new version of Photoshop was going to do for photographers and artists, and how the lines would begin to blur between amateur and professional photographers.
But then we realized something: taking a picture isn't just about lining people up in a wedding, snapping a shot and fixing it on Photoshop. Sometimes it's more about the eye of the photographer. It's about understanding the light in a shot. It's about seeing the beauty in the world around you and how your subjects fit into that world. It's about catching the non-verbal moments.
The same can probably be said of all artists. They see with different eyes: the light, the color, the placements. They look beyond what's put in front of them to see the whole picture - how the individual fits into the whole. And to find inspiration, you often have to look beyond the obvious, to find the sometimes obscure and unlock the heart of what you're creating.
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