I came across the phrase “point of departure” for the first time in a photo study post by Brenda with title “the photographer II“. In her post Brenda mentioned about Ralph Gibson (An American art photographer best known for his photographic books).
Point of departure according to Ralph Gibson, “to have a point of departure is not to go out and shoot. It’s to have a project in mind and going out looking for a shot that represents or showcases this emotion or concept that your project is about.”
“From now on, before I go shoot, I’ll consult internally to focus on one thing I want to capture, and have that point of departure. It’ll give purpose to my work and me being out there. The advantages are that I’ll learn patience, presence and a deeper sense of observation. This is a powerful and deep message…have a point of departure.” ~Ralph Gibson
I was caught up with the idea of point of departure and I started to look into my own philosophy about photography. A question I was asking myself, have I ever had a project in my mind? Tiny details of my photography tours. Gosh! I am such a bad learner. Of course I was not standing or sitting still to get my subject in my frame but my themes were quite broad. My only aim was to get an interesting photo either while walking up on a mountain for few hours or visiting an arboretum or a botanical garden. A very few times I had a fixed idea in my mind, a point of departure, like when I tried to capture moon from my kitchen window, capturing first fresh snow or capturing sunset sky after a rainy day. The duration of such projects were quite short.
Having a point of depature is not that easy. Aamateur photographer like me will always have a feeling of loosing some frames beacuse they do not fit in. Getting that matuarity is difficult than it seems.
There is so much so say but I donot want to bore my readers. I am happy to share that last Saturday I had my first proper photo tour with a point of departure, “low angle photography”. I am sharing some photos from that tour. Hope you will enjoy these and give me feedback.
I am sorry if I confuse some of you with my earlier post on “low angle photography: looking up“. Yes I shared pictures on low angle photography in there as well but the photographs were taken on difference occassions. This post is about having a fixed plan and trying to get some good shots.
