A friend asked a question recently in a Facebook group I belong to: "What have you learned the most from being a Photographer." To be honest, I still haven't read any responses from any of the other group members. I was just humbly thinking only of myself, (selfish).
Seriously though, it was a deep question for me. I've been realizing that I'm thinking less and less of myself as a "photographer" and more as an artist. I don't want to shoot myself in the foot mind you. Please don't draw the conclusion that I don't want to be a photographer anymore. I love being a photographer and creating images. All I'm saying is I'm mentally allowing myself to see myself as more than what I do.
I've always tried to draw inspiration from many and varied sources, and I'm always trying to glean some new piece of knowledge or skill from somewhere. As well as stealing bits of knowledge here and there, I also try to bring it all back and see how they all relate and/or fit together. As I've been doing this over the years, I've come to realize composition applies to everything. However, It's not solely something to be found within a frame.
Songs are composed within a meter and key, a photograph is framed in the viewfinder, a drawing must be limited to the paper or surface upon which it resides. Most art thrives when parameters are placed and boundries are set. But composition can also be found wherever there is order. Our bodies, the trees, even the stars compose.
Well, maybe it's us. Maybe things seem composed because we have given meaning to them. The greeks, who looked into the stars and saw images. It was not the stars that composed the images, but the oracles who divined meaning from mess.
The egyptians believed order came from chaos. Chaos first, order second. Our words that shape our thoughts, a poem that embodies pure emotion, two separate lives becoming one through marital bonds. It's beautiful, and it's everywhere. And it's hard. :) But that's ok, nothing great was ever easy.
