On photography

 

What is photography? Some touching on the smartphone screen to capture a flying moment, then choosing the best shot, quickly adding some exotic filters, before posting it in social media? Well yes, it can be, especially in these "modern" times, where besides the everyday life there is also a virtual one online.

Today everyone can be a photographer and taking pictures is easier than ever. Well, did I say taking? What about making? In fact, besides being another language and cultural difference between English and Albanian language, this verb choice can also be “a ground breaking discovery” for capturing better pictures. English speakers usually use the word taking a picture for the process of directing the camera to a subject and pressing the shutter button. Fair enough, because usually in a process like this, the photographer can be just an observer, who does nothing more but documenting the reality in front. The reality is out there, while the photographer takes it in the camera and to the picture.

In a second thought, and this is my thought, the thought of an amateur photographer that loves the photography realm, I would prefer to use the Albanian verb “bёj” – to make; bёj fotografi. Why? Because, in order to realize a great picture, one that includes both documentation and artistic elements, the photographer has to think fast, compose the scene right, choose the best angle, feel the moment and sometimes interact with the subject in order to reach what the photographer wants, an image that might make you whisper – this is lovely!

Photography is an actively creative process, a process comparable with drawing and painting, where it is possible to compose and built your own scene from the scratch; a process that requires reflection and meditation before pressing the button. I usually prefer to make pictures, but sometimes I cannot escape the touristic urge of taking my smart phone out and shooting at everyone and everything.

This is a picture from my last visit in USA. In horizon stands Atlantic City, while in the foreground a crow flies free towards the ocean. In fact it is not a picture, it is two pictures in one, a double exposure in photographic language.

During those days I was by the seaside enjoying some Edgar Allan Poe poetry. Inspired by The Raven and Annabel Lee poems, I decided to realize something that would include elements from both poems. With my good old analogue camera which allows taking two pictures in one frame, I photographed the Kingdom by the Sea of Annabel Lee (Atlantic City), then quickly rearranged the camera for the second exposure and waited patiently for the Raven (the crow) to appear. There was a crow visiting the beach each day, at precisely 5:30 to 6 in the evening, to steal food from the bags of careless vacationers. When the crow appeared, I carefully followed its every move until I got closer and closer. In the end it flew in the horizon. There I pressed the shutter and luck was on my side.

Some days later, I developed the film and printed the picture in the darkroom. I discovered that both images were perfectly overlapped (as I had carefully planned), while the crow's wings were opened up in a glorious way. I had made my perfect picture.