📷 Making Interesting Pictures: Beyond the Obvious

I’ve spent years teaching students that interesting pictures aren’t born from expensive gear or dramatic scenes. They’re born from attention. From intention. From the quiet discipline of seeing what others overlook.

So what makes a picture interesting? It’s not just what’s in the frame. It’s what the frame asks of us.

🧠 The Myth of the Spectacle

We’re conditioned to chase spectacle—sunsets, ruins, faces in anguish. But interesting pictures don’t need drama. They need depth. A cracked sidewalk can be more compelling than a mountain if it’s seen with care.

Interesting pictures:

• Ask questions instead of answering them

• Reveal character through restraint

• Invite the viewer to linger, not scroll

🪞 The Photographer’s Presence

A picture becomes interesting when the photographer is present. Not just physically, but emotionally. When the image reflects not just what was there, but how it felt to be there.

I’ve made some of my favorite images with high-mileage gear and limited light. What mattered wasn’t the specs—it was the why. Why this moment? Why this framing? Why this silence?

🧭 Techniques That Serve Vision

Here are a few practices I return to when I want to make pictures that hold attention:

• Single lens discipline: Limit your choices to deepen your seeing.

• Print from the archive: Revisit old frames. What speaks now that didn’t then?

• Sequence with emotion: Let images build a rhythm. Don’t just show—pace.

• Photograph gestures, not just faces: A hand, a posture, a glance can carry more story than a smile.

🕊 The Ethics of Interest

Interesting doesn’t mean intrusive. It doesn’t mean clever. It means honest. Especially when photographing people, restraint is a form of respect. The most powerful images often say: I saw you. I didn’t take more than you gave.

🖼 Final Thought: Make Pictures That Remember

An interesting picture doesn’t just hold attention—it holds memory. It becomes part of how we understand a place, a person, a moment. And when printed, it becomes a form of stewardship.

So don’t chase interesting. Cultivate it. Through presence, care, and the quiet courage to see what others miss.