Mario Giacomelli: One of the masters of monochrome:
1. Have something to say
Photography is not difficult—as long as you have something to say.
Don’t just make photos for the sake of it. Try to make photographs that communicate your personal perspective of the world.
Question:
What do you want to say through your photographs? What thoughts or philosophies do you want to communicate via your photos?
2. Photograph your thoughts
“I try to photograph thoughts.”
Try to transcend reality with your photographs. Attempt to photograph something deeper about reality.
3. Make photographs for your visual notebook
Of course [photography] cannot create, nor express all we want to express. But it can be a witness of our passage on earth, like a notebook.
There will always be limits in the maximum we can communicate via our photos. However, strive to communicate as much of yourself through your photos.
Never stop shooting and pushing your artistic limits to the next level.
4. Add your imagination to your photographs
A photo isn’t only what you see, but also what your imagination adds to it. My own imagination may add something else, a third person’s something else again.
It isn’t just about photographing what you see.
What kind of surrealism can you add to your photos?
Don’t just photograph what you see. Add your personal vision and imagination to what you see!
Takeaways
- Don’t just shoot people; also shoot epic landscapes.
- Post process your monochrome to the extreme. Ignore the midtones; go extreme (crush the blacks, extreme white and blacks).
- Shoot playfully, have fun, and embed your soul into your pictures.
Epic landscapes by Mario Giacomelli
Super inspirational; I want to start shooting more epic landscapes:
Learn more from All the Masters of Photography >