When we view a photo, our mind provides enough information that we know what we are looking at and can make it make sense. But this also happens when we look at an object we want to take a picture of, again we view it in our mind arranging it so that the to-be-taken photo says what we want the viewer to understand.
But the dark little all-to-obvious secret is that our mind is the common coupling that makes or breaks the success of the image. Let’s ask a question, how much do you know about how your mind works? Or how much does mankind know?
It is as if you are given a new beyond the state of the art developmental camera, no instructions, and told to make a perfect photograph. If you don’t know how the camera works it is difficult to make the perfect picture.
Well let me be arrogant and offer you clues of how our mind works, how the couplings happen. That is the goal of my cognitive photography.
Clearly for you to want to go this far into detail you are beyond the point-and-shot snapshot stage of photography.
When we first start seeing and understanding the world around us, our explorations are shaped by our physiological and psychological responses. From a very early age, we are developing concepts of composition that guide our eyes and help us interpret images.
Concepts that areinherent to each of us shape our individual outlook. As we experience more and more, not only of artistic endeavors, but also from navigation our every day lives in the world, we form a set of compositional guidelines.
This understanding forced me to ask a very important question: “What is the relationship between my psychological compositional guidelines to those of formal art training?” As I provide you with the information to answer this question you learn how to form your own compositional rules.
Who is this website for?
This website is designed to teach you how to use your mind’s natural abilities to make great photos. It is meant for levels of photographers, starting with serious beginners and developing to the level of serious professional: stop at the level that you are comfortable with. Comments and questions are welcome, I’ll respond as my time permits.
There is an active blog where I will explore how current cognitive neuroscience research can help you understand the experience of your mind’s eye. Here you will also find a gallery of my work, including a special project with Warren Brown in which we explore how Haiku poetry can enhance your experience of an image.
Next: Why Cognitive Photography?
(See my book The Mind’s Eye Guide to Composition)