How do you communicate emotion in photos?

Roger Hicks said:
How do you create an image without the photographer's voice? What is 'on its own'?

Cheers,

R.
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I didn't say "create." I said "convey."

While an image is indeed created with the photographer's 'voice' should that voice necessarily be conveyed to his audience?

My understanding of what Pickett (the OP) is espousing is akin to saying "This is how I want you to feel when viewing my image." What I'm saying is that an image will bring out a response that is unique to each viewer because each viewer will supply his own context.

I am reminded of a quote from Sam Goldwyn: "If you want to send a message, call Western Union."

That quote certainly applies here.

Cheers.
 
Tonality the lightness and tonality in an B/W image can convey emotion by printing the images a certain way the photographer can convey the mood of the place or the way he felt when he took the picture.
 
What I'm talking about, I guess, is a combination of authorship and emotion, with intent thrown in for good measure. Kind of a "I took this photo on purpose, it was made with intent to convey this meaning."
 
kxl said:
I didn't say "create." I said "convey."

While an image is indeed created with the photographer's 'voice' should that voice necessarily be conveyed to his audience?

My understanding of what Pickett (the OP) is espousing is akin to saying "This is how I want you to feel when viewing my image." What I'm saying is that an image will bring out a response that is unique to each viewer because each viewer will supply his own context.

I am reminded of a quote from Sam Goldwyn: "If you want to send a message, call Western Union."

That quote certainly applies here.

Cheers.
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What separates the greats form the herd is the voice. When you can't tell one photographers work from all the rest, it is nothing special. Most photographers never develop a style but the greats all have. Thats more important than one great image, emotion and all the rest. You know your starting to get it when people can tell an image that you've taken without looking at the signature.
 
Pickett Wilson said:
What I'm talking about, I guess, is a combination of authorship and emotion, with intent thrown in for good measure. Kind of a "I took this photo on purpose, it was made with intent to convey this meaning."
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And you need to use the visual tools to help you communicate intent. How well you understand the language and how well you can see it come together and then be able to put it into the image will help in communicating the intent. But what is truly important is putting some of you, the photographer in the work. Making it more than a noun.

'Going outside and meeting the challenge of taking what is and making it yours, that’s what photography does for me. It’s not the subject that interests me as much as my perception of the subject." - Roy DeCarava

"When I looked at things for what they are I was fool enough to persist in my folly and found that each photograph was a mirror of my Self." - Minor White

"A great photograph is a full expression of what one feels about what is being photographed in the deepest sense, and is, a true expression of what one feels about life in its entirety." - Ansel Adams

You...Thats what makes your work special.
 
Heres a piece about developing a style. Early on he talks about Witkins work.

Witkin if you don't know him has very classic composition he was influenced by the artist Giotto (painter and architect middle ages) and scenes from hell for lack of better terms.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuV7bspAh1Q

and another interesting video from the same guy and it touches very basicly on visual language and how to use it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtcD84l9eUw
 
Pickett Wilson said:
... Trying to make the photo actually convey the feeling I experienced when I pressed the shutter button. ...

Anyone struggle with this? Have any thoughts on a solution?
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I never try to convey my feeling when I take a frame, I always try to capture the emotion of the subject, therefore most of my shots show people.

Roger Hicks said:
...
The enormous problem is when the photographer is unable to separate how he/she felt from taking the picture, and what anyone else might reasonably interpret the picture as meaning. ...
Cheers, R.
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+1.

finguanzo said:
I sometimes cry when I take a picture.. :p
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I don't. I case I'm in such a bad mood, I don't go out and take pictures.

airfrogusmc said:
...When you can't tell one photographers work from all the rest, it is nothing special. ... You know your starting to get it when people can tell an image that you've taken without looking at the signature.
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I guess, I am far away from that signature voice.
Only two here on RFF usually make me recognize a picture and then it's no surprise when I look at the author : The landscapes by Lynnb and Koolzakawumba (spelling?).
 
Try to use visual elements to help convey your message or intent and finding our own vision should be something we are all striving for and working in bodies of work and using visual language effectively are two strong tools to help get to that end.
 
airfrogusmc said:
Heres my thoughts. I think great photographs communicate ideas and great artists all use visual language to achieve that. Learning how to use this language frees you from rules. A great photographer once told me in grat photographs either everything in the frame is helping the visual statement or if it not helping the statement then its hurting it. Nothing should just be there.

To many new photographer think in terms of one great image. One great image no more makes a great photographer or a great body of work as would one great at bat make a hall-of-famer. All the greats work in bodies of work.

I think another big mistake new photographers make is trying to create images that give immediate gratification. Heres a great quote by Ralph Gibson.
"A good photograph, like a good painting, speaks with a loud voice and demands time and attention if it is to be fully perceived. An art lover is perfectly willing to hang a painting on a wall for years on end, but ask him to study a single photograph for ten unbroken minutes and he’ll think it’s a waste of time. Staying power is difficult to build into a photograph. Mostly, it takes content. A good photograph can penetrate the subconscious – but only if it is allowed to speak for however much time it needs to get there." - Ralph Gibson

Using the tools like line, implied line, shape, color, repeating shapes, etc are all things that need to help support the statement which would include composition and any one of those elements are all of those elements in great photographers are all helping the visual statement.

Bresson was so good at it. A great quote by him.
"You are asking me what makes a good picture. For me, it is the harmony between subject and form that leads each one of those elements to its maximum of expression and vigor." - Henri Cartier-Bresson

I would say emotion can be enforced by using some of these elements or in some cases all of these elements by using them to enforce what you, the photographer is trying to say.

Also think about what you are saying with your photographs. Are you merely shooting the noun or are you saying something more? are you telling us what that object means to you. Are you showing it to us in a way that you see it instead of the way it actually is? Anyone can shoot it as a noun but how and what does the subject actually mean or what it might actually be; the verb.

Building these element into the work along with seeing and working in terms of bodies of work also help develop a personal way of seeing and a style. All the great artist have a style. I think the best compliment that a photographer can get is that photograph looks like a photograph that that photographer made. Heres a few quotes by a few of the greats about seeing you in your work.

"You should be able to look at me and see my work. You should be able to look at my work and see me." - Roy DeCarava

"The decision as to when to photograph, the actual click of the shutter, is partly controlled from the outside, by the flow of life, but it also comes from the mind and the heart of the artist. The photograph is his vision of the world and expresses, however subtly, his values and convictions." - Paul Strand

"This then: to photograph a rock, have it look like a rock, but be more than a rock." - Edward Weston

I say worry more about getting yourself into your images and less about emotion. Emotion is subjective and as Winogrand and the OP brought up what might have you emotional might not have any effect on someone else so instead build your photographs on something solid and work on getting you into tyour work Thats what will make it truly special and unique because if it looks like everyone elses work then its not special its what everything elses looks like.
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Thanks for posting this. It gives me a lot to think about and will help me along!
 
airfrogusmc said:
What separates the greats form the herd is the voice. When you can't tell one photographers work from all the rest, it is nothing special. Most photographers never develop a style but the greats all have. Thats more important than one great image, emotion and all the rest. You know your starting to get it when people can tell an image that you've taken without looking at the signature.
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Having a voice and having a style is not the same thing at all. Most photographers develop a style and stick to it thoughout their whole career but some great photographers adopt different styles at different times to say different things yet you can still 'hear' (i.e. see) their voice ring through all of them.

Having a signature style often makes for great commercial success (in the commercial/editorial world) as prospective clients know what they're getting but I don't think it's the mark of a great photographer.

Personally I'm not a big fan of photographers who are too heavily commited to their style. They bore me and I can't understand how they don't bore themselves. I prefer to be surprised. But that's just me.
 
You're welcome and give the two videos a look. I know a couple hours each and I don't agree with it all but it does give one a lot to think about.

Sally Mann has a 6 part series on youtube also worth a watch.
 
Well all the greats have it whatever you call it. I have had some success with personal work and I shoot commercial/advertising for a living. Its important in both worlds.
 
airfrogusmc said:
Well all the greats have it whatever you call it. I have had some success with personal work and I shoot commercial/advertising for a living. Its important in both worlds.
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Not sure that all the greats have it but we may not agree on who the greats are.
As an example, I do not think that the Stephen Shore of 'American Surfaces' has the same style than the Stephen Shore of 'Uncommon Places', let alone his later black and white work or his digital P&S print on demand booklets. Yet I definitely think he has a consistent voice.
Or look at Alec Soth's work of the past few years. It's not at all in the same style as his signature large format work.
Roe Ethridge, one of my favourite photographers at the moment, doesn't have much of a consistent style at all. A voice yes, but not a style.

Maybe we should clarify what we mean by style, though. By style I mean the consistent employment of a specific aesthetic. Or, to say it more crudely, the 'look' of a picture.
 
History usually weeds out the riff raff but every great photographer I know their vision/style comes through, no matter what equipment, format or subject matter the photographer uses. It is the way the photographer sees and puts all the visual elements together. So that consistency is there through color, B&W, format, lens that all of these things though many of these elements can help a photographer develop a style. Its usually much deeper than just a specific aesthetic or look. Its usually much more than that. Give the two videos I posted previously a view.

A great quote by Weston
".....so called “composition” becomes a personal thing, to be developed along with technique, as a personal way of seeing." - Edward Weston
 
airfrogusmc said:
History usually weeds out the riff raff but every great photographer I know their vision/style comes through, no matter what equipment, format or subject matter the photographer uses. It is the way the photographer sees and puts all the visual elements together. So that consistency is there through color, B&W, format, lens that all of these things though many of these elements can help a photographer develop a style. Its usually much deeper than just a specific aesthetic or look. Its usually much more than that. Give the two videos I posted previously a view.
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It seems like we just differ on our use of the term 'style'. I would distinguish 'style' from 'voice' insofar as I would limit the former to an aesthetic or way of working whereas I would put the latter into the "much more than that" category. I'm not saying that I'm using the term 'style' correctly, I'm just trying to make the case for a distinction between 'style' and 'voice'.

As an example, I think Bruce Gilden has stuck to the same style throughout his career whereas someone like Stephen Shore, as previously mentioned, has switched it up every few years. I use Shore specifically because he says something about this way of working in this video.

As for history weeding out the riff raff, maybe it does, but it weeds out a lot of great artists, too.

As for the two videos, I'll have to pass. Since they are not your videos I'm sure you don't take any offense in me saying that I clicked through them and the work discussed is awfully bad.
 
kxl said:
I didn't say "create." I said "convey."

While an image is indeed created with the photographer's 'voice' should that voice necessarily be conveyed to his audience?

My understanding of what Pickett (the OP) is espousing is akin to saying "This is how I want you to feel when viewing my image." What I'm saying is that an image will bring out a response that is unique to each viewer because each viewer will supply his own context.

I am reminded of a quote from Sam Goldwyn: "If you want to send a message, call Western Union."

That quote certainly applies here.

Cheers.
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We are, I fear, at cross purposes here. 'Message' and 'voice' are not the same thing, at least to me.

Think of a singer's voice; or better still, a singer-songwriter. I'd draw a parallel between the latter and a photographer's 'voice'.

Cheers,

R.
 
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