Ansel Adams - PREVISUALIZATION!!!!!!!

Ansel Adams had two rules of photography, ( even after making the statement at the 1932 exhibit in San Francisco " There are no rules for good photographs there are only good photographs."):

1. The complete image must directly reflect how the subject appeared in the camera.
2. He had to see the finished photograph in his mind before the shutter was released.

Previsualization is one of the most important lessons to be learned from this photography Great. We must see the image in our head before we release the shutter. We must get away from the point and shoot mentality if we are every going to progress in our field. Too many times the photo is just snapped without the thought to composition, background, and even subject. ( I speak of my own photography here but I am sure there are many others that are also guilty of this.) We need to slow down, check our background, and place our subject in the frame where you determine it has the effect that you are trying to achieve. I think that digital photography had made us lazy, in that it cost nothing to take hundreds of pictures in hopes that some or one will come out they way we wanted, The Spray and Pray method.
" I have often thought that if photography were difficult in the truest sense of the term- meaning that the creation of a simple photograph would entail as much time and effort as the production of a good watercolor or etching- there would be a vast improvement in total output. The sheer ease with which we can produce a superficial image often leads to creative disaster"
Ansel Adams
He was talking of film photography here , but this is eve truer with the digital age. We have to build the image in our mind, add all the layers, get the right angle or perspective. Adjust for the correct light, the right time, all this before we release the shutter. I have a lot to learn, and I am studying the great photographers of the past and present, to help me along the way.

"I trust that the next step will be electronic image, and I hope I shall live to see it. I trust that the creative eye will continue to function, whatever technological innovations may develop."
Ansel Adams