Freeman: The Photographer’s Mind

“Photography is extremely good at getting straight to the point. Perhaps too good. There’s something in front of the camera; so shoot and you have an image of it, with or without any thought. Doing this often enough may produce some gems, but thinking first is guaranteed to do better.”

Thus begins the first chapter of The Photographer’s Mind: Creative Thinking for Better Digital Photos by Michael Freeman, author of the best-selling book The Photographer’s Eye: Composition and Design for Better Digital Photos.

The Photographer’s Mind represents a continuation to The Photographer’s Eye with its discussions regarding compositions but focuses on the thought processes involved.  It is divided into three sections, Intent, Style, and Process. Intent discusses how to give people a reason to view your images for longer than a glance. Style deals with composition techniques and the many varied ways of using them. Last, Process explores what happens in the mind of a photographer during the making a photograph.

Pros

• superbly written with excellent English
• replete with wonderful photographic examples drawn from the author’s own work
• exceedingly knowledgeable of subject matter
• filled with advanced compositional guidelines

I also appreciated Freeman’s “web search” sidebar approach.  Instead of just making links to sites available for further reading, he provided terms to search on.  Searching on the topics returns results that provide you with further reading, but they’ll always be relevant and current.  The problem with the usual method of supplying static URL links is that they tend to break over time, becoming worthless.

Michael also provides sidebars which neatly summarize thoughts or highlight concepts.  Here are some example sidebar topics:

• What Most People Tend to Like Visually
• Ways of Dealing with Clichéd Scenes
• Color Harmony
• Types of Balance
• Minimalist Principles in Design and Visual Arts
• Extreme Visual Recipes
• Experiments in Composition

Cons

• None

My Opinion

Experienced amateur and professional photographers represent the main target audience for this book, so beginners expecting a “how-to” book will most likely be disappointed.  It implicitly assumes that you already have a firm grasp of composition basics, which you can get from the book’s predecessor, The Photographer’s Eye.  This book takes you beyond the basics, beyond the cliché rules-of-thumb, and exposes you to what goes through the mind of experienced photographers as they compose.  Drawing from his own extensive collection of images, Michael walks you through the thought process that leads to a composition of compelling photography.

This book has the potential to expand your understanding of how the top minds in photography work when it comes to composing, much in the same way as Vision and Art: The Biology of Seeing can alter your understanding of how you really see.

If you’re building a photography library, then this book belongs in it.  Even if you’re just starting out in photography, you’ll want it for when you’re ready.  It’s a book you’ll be able to return to time and time again, and still draw inspiration from it. I believe you’ll learn something new regardless of your level of expertise; just how much depends on your level.

Samples and Examples

Pages 9 through 17 of The Photographer’s Mind are available here.

Michael Freeman’s thoughts and writings as a pixiq.com contributor are found here.

Finally, you can also visit Michael Freeman Photography to see his latest works.

Book Details

Title: The Photographer’s Mind

Publisher: Focal Press

Author: Michael Freeman

ISBN-13: 978-0240815176

Length: 192 pages

Dimensions: 9.9 x 9.3 x 0.6 inches

Publication Date: October 12, 2010

Format: Paperback