Poetic Photography, to me, is capturing story and emotion with light and image. The gallery below, while they are self-serving pictures of your’s truly, did a good job capturing my feelings in particular moments.

Poetic photography is a new concept for me. That said, I’m sure someone coined the phrase long before I did. I’ve dabbled with poetry for years, but photography is new to me. Therefore, I can’t claim to be an authority; allow me to get that out of the way right up front.

When I approach poetry I use words to tell stories. Often the stories are a tiny snapshot into a paragraph of a novel that’s hundreds of pages long. I see photography in the same way. Light and image capture eyes that are bleed years of emotions.

So, here are my ideas about a poetic approach to photographs.

First: Poetic Photography Is Personal

There are thousands of websites that tell you exactly how to find the perfect manual settings for nearly every setting. Many of these are helpful. Poetry is not perfect, nor is photography. There are times when I take a picture with a high ISO knowing it will be grainy. I’ve accepted the truth that perfect settings often take time and environment.

Pictures became a way of expression for me. Before my deployments and my spinal surgery, my main hobbies was playing music and building cars. Now, since my life has changed.

So much photography seems contrived, as if it has no soul. Make it personal!

Second: Poetic Photography Does Not Need Perfection

Western culture, in many aspects, is obsessed with perfection. That bleeds over into photography too. I’m a fan of Adobe, and there are times I use Lightroom to change the exposure and remove oversaturated colors. I’m thankful for these programs because the can add to our poetic endeavors.

Yet, they also kill poetry in the name of perfection. A 60-second scroll through social media reveals a slew of pictures that look like paintings than moments in time where a camera caught the miracle of feelings mixed with light. While some edits can, enrich colors and correct camera blur, too much creates a moment that never existed and thus ruins the poetic nature of the moment.

Third: Poetic Photography is Creative

I consider myself fortunate to own a decent camera. It’s certainly not professional, but it’s a great camera for the under $750 price point. The above photo was taken on Cedar Key with an iPhone. No edits required.It’s much more creative than the ones I took of the sunset that evening.

Posted by Rian Adams