How a Photographer Sees

 How a Photographer Sees

Most people drive down the road looking at what’s in front of them.

A photographer sees something else.

We see possibilities.

This photograph is a perfect example. I was simply driving down the road when something caught my eye. The scene was there for only a moment—the water, the cranes, the New York skyline in the distance. To most people, it might have been just another industrial waterfront.

But a photographer doesn’t always see the entire picture at once. We see pieces of it. A shape. A line. A splash of color. The way the light falls. Something that makes us think, Wait… there might be a photograph here.

So you stop.

You look again.

Maybe you move a little. Then a little more. You change your angle, look through the trees, wait for something to happen, and begin putting the pieces together in your mind. The first frame may be good. The next one may be better. And then suddenly, everything comes together.

In this case, it was the World Trade Center rising above the water and construction cranes, with the American flag hanging from the crane in the foreground. That small detail changed the entire photograph.

It wasn’t just a picture of New York anymore.

It became a photograph with a story.

The cranes represent the working waterfront and the constant rebuilding of the city. The skyline represents New York—always moving, always changing. And that flag, hanging high above it all, adds something that can’t really be measured in pixels. It gives the photograph emotion, history and meaning.

And that’s one of the things I love about photography.

The photograph isn’t always where you expect to find it.

Sometimes it’s in a planned sunrise at a beautiful location. Sometimes it’s waiting at an air show or standing on a beach with a telephoto lens.

And sometimes you’re simply driving down the road.

You just have to be looking.

That’s how a photographer sees.