Back when I bought my first 35mm SLR camera, I made an attempt to soak up as much information about how to take good photographs as I could. In one magazine I read an article that suggested the way to learn how to take great pictures was to practice taking pictures of doorknobs.
At that time nearly everyone who used photography as a form of artistic expression worked in black and white. I still love black and white photos as I feel the art has so many subtleties that are often lost in color. However I digress, I mean to be talking about doorknob photography.
The idea behind this exercise was to take a subject that is really not all that interesting or complex all by itself, and pay more attention the framing of the subject, the angle of the shot, the way light and shadows play together. A good photograph pays attention to all of these elements.
Today I was thinking back to that article and how really it does apply to the core of what becomes stunning art. Some times the special effects, the cool animation, or content itself become the focus. But really all of those elements are wasted without the perfect light or the correct point of view. It’s interesting to me now matter how complex something becomes, its always the basics that make the difference.