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For me, photography is about capturing beauty. That is why it seems so easy, because wherever you take a closer look, you can find beauty. This is the cause for the greatest fun and also the most disappointment in taking pictures - it is sometimes so very hard to transport the beauty that I see into beauty in a picture.

The eyes are one reason for this: My eyes can do lots of wonderful things that my camera isn't able to do. They compensate for lighter areas in my field of view by darkening the skin in front of those light receptors - sensors - that would otherwise be blown out. They cannot do this when I look directly into the sun, so they also have their limits, but they are so vastly more advanced than a camera sensor that it is sometimes frustrating to see what the sensor captures. Of course, losing one dimension of sight doesn't help either.

The next reason is the brain: My eyes record a stream of pictures which my brain puts together to form a much more complete idea of what is in front of me than can ever be achieved in a still picture (or, for that matter, in a movie, because where my eyes point and focus depends on where the most interesting point is for me).

The one receptor that makes photography worthwhile for me is the third one that gets its input from the other two - the mind, and especially the part of it that is my imagination. Through fantasy, it is possible to restore all those missing things - depth, movement, things outside the frame of the actual picture - and transform the picture back into something real.

This transformation of a picture into a real idea of the picture's subject is possible with any picture, even the worst. However, what I admire about great photographers is the ability to show something for what is really looks - and feels - like for them. I miserably fail in that respect most of the time, but I also have my bright moments.

My greatest motivation for keeping on trying is a picture I took one summer evening when the sky was exploding. Looking at it, I can still feel the moment when I stood there, amazed at the beauty that is everywhere.



Older pics, along with a diary of some of my travelling experiences, can be found on my homepage, jan-koch.com, and on my blog, blog.jan-koch.com.