Man with Red, Cowes, England

Excerpt from It's Not About the F-Stop:

Every once in a while, you turn the corner and you see something remarkable that cries out to be recorded. This was on a boat, a ferry of some kind, in England.

The sure thing, the thing that I’m talking about, is the juxtaposition of the profile of the man and the red panel. There was no way in Hell that I could pass this up. It’s the kind of image that speaks to me quite directly and says, “Look at me! I’m here for you. You must shoot this.”

What’s interesting is that the next guy to see this, depending upon what makes his bell ring, could just as easily look at it and say, “Oh, that’s obvious, that’s too design-y” or, simply put, “It doesn’t do anything for me.”

Therein lies the point. There is no “way.” There is no “right” or “wrong.” It’s all about the way we have been shaped by the literature, movies, paintings, music, and anything else you can name that has influenced your attitude.

Different people look at different things and say, “That’s lovely,” or “This is garbage.” You’ll never be able to get any three people to agree on anything in terms of validating art. However, that is neither necessary nor desirable. Your views will, if you’re open, be constantly changing. And the truth of the matter is you have one, and only one, obligation and it came from Shakespeare:

 

Hamlet : Act 1, Scene 3

“This above all: to thine own self be true,

And it must follow, as the night the day,

Thou canst not then be false to any man.”