Chapter 2

Design: Visual Foundations

LEARNING TO SEE: COMMUNICATING WITH DESIGN

When it comes to photographic imagemaking, people have plenty of questions about cameras but don’t often ask about how best to accomplish their visual goals. What determines the success of an image is not the camera, but the knowledge of the person operating the camera. The principal job of a photographer is looking, which defines all photographic processes. Good photographs are made by learning to see. Good photographers become skilled at following their eyes and seeing things others overlook. Imagemaking is 10 percent what we encounter and 90 percent how we respond. A good photograph creates a memory in a viewer by communicating an experience to another. Good ...

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