Don't Say "Cheese"!

A lot of those pics we see on our Facebook and Instagram feeds are what Thai photographer Chompoo Baritone calls “artistic-looking photos”. And yet it only pretends to create art, what Jonathan Jones blasted:

“We are turning into a world of bad artists, cosily congratulating one another on every new slice of sheer kitsch.”

Baritone says pretty much the same thing; that most pics just seek to show off trendy aspects of life “with the end goal of getting praise” (a phrase from Baritone’s Facebook album on the same topic). As Annalisa Merelli said:

“Such nicely framed images, pretty filters, witty captions and hashtags break no boundaries, but rather strengthen a pre-defined taxonomy of what’s trendy.”

So what’s the way to avoid that?

Eugene Wei talks about the simplest tip to improve one’s photography:

“Take photos where your subjects aren't looking directly into the lens.”

Why not? And why would that make any difference to the shot? First, let’s understand things from the other side: what happens when the subject looks directly at the lens:

“Whenever your subject looks into the lens, the story is almost always, “Someone posed for a photo at this place.””

But when the subject doesn’t look at the lens?

“The moment your subject looks off camera, suddenly you are a photojournalist. For the viewer, it's as if they are transported to that place, and it puts them in a different state of engagement with the photo, a state of awakening. Suddenly they examine the body language and the arrangement of subjects within the scene (the mise en scène) to try to understand what is happening, just as viewers do when they watch TV and movies. Because the subject isn't looking into camera, the viewer doesn't read the body language as a pose, they read it as natural and thus more honest, worth deeper scrutiny.”

Of course, Wei acknowledges there are situations when looking at the camera can make for good photos. Like with portrait pics and:

“Sometimes a gaze into camera is disarming, makes the viewer complicit, catches them in a moment of voyeurism.”

I can’t imagine too many people following Wei’s tip; but it sure would make for, if not good, at least different photos than what we’re used to seeing on our social network feeds.