ABOUT RETURNS AND FORESTS

Nah, I'm coming back to this blog. I decided I'll keep this to post personal insights and personal photography, the other one will be related to client work mostly. Maybe at some point it'll be a fusion... I don't know, I'm confused. Anyway, I decided to embrace what I started and I started this to let out some things related to the photography field. Now, what I'm about to say now is not to crush anyone or to make bad comments about other people's work, but I've been wondering, what is it so interesting about people being photographed in the woods? I mean, seriously. Probably when it first came out it was an interesting setting for photoshoots, and I still think it's interesting for lifestyle photography since you have to focus most of the time in the person not the location (but of course you can also take full advantage of location to make the photos more interesting), but for artistic photography, I feel it's kind of dead now, unless the photographer offers something else than a girl spacing out as if she's having a spiritual encounter with Jesus H. Christ, and smoke bombs. 

Of course I'm not innocent; for some time I wanted to live or travel somewhere near the woods to emulate the same photos I'm talking about now, but after seing so many of these elements, over and over again, I find it very annoying, why? Because I feel many people are more excited about their setting engaging the viewer rather than the model or the photograph itself. I think being in the woods and having tons of smoke bombs should be used as a prop not as the main subject, and there are many ways to use them for your advantage. 

The dreamer by tyler_mcgown

Tyler's photo is a good example of how you can use these elements to make your photo more interesting rather than letting the environment and props take over it. 

Untitled by single moment

Compared to this example where there is a lot going on, the smoke bomb seems to serve no purpose other than being a distraction from an already confusing composition. It seems as if the smoke is coming from the girl's behind; again, very distracting.

For photos without a purpose, without a concept, a smoke bomb can go terribly wrong. Of course it might be appealing at the beginning since it offers an ~enigmatic~ ambience, but other than that, putting smoke bombs in your shot will not make the photo better... if not, they can only make it worse. I really don't want to be mean, again, I'm not innocent from being curious about trying to experiment with smoke bombs but if I ever do it, I'll try to use it as a prop instead of making it my focus, unless I want to do a study on smoke or gas.

So my final thoughts are:
1) Smoke bombs will not make your photo amazing.
2) Being in the woods will not make your photo instantly magical.
3) Never place your smoke bomb near someone's ass because, well, you know what happens.
4) If you happen to have smoke bombs and a forest nearby, use your props and location to your advantage, don't let these take over your photograph. Don't abuse of your elements.