If I Could Photograph Only One Thing

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Every once in a while, it’s interesting to give yourself a question with an unreasonable rule attached to it. This one asks me to choose one photographic subject.

Here’s one: If I could photograph only one kind of subject for the rest of my life, what would I choose?

At first, that sounds easy enough. I’ve photographed long enough to know what I enjoy and what usually catches my attention. But the more I think about actually giving everything else up, the harder the choice becomes.

Choosing one photographic subject

Landscape photography would certainly be in the running. There’s something about being outside with a camera, watching the light change and trying to bring some order to everything inside the frame. I’ve always enjoyed that process. But if landscapes were suddenly the only thing I could photograph, would I eventually start missing all the smaller things I normally encounter along the way?

Probably.

Maybe I’d choose nature more broadly. That would give me trees, water, weather, birds, textures, changing seasons, and plenty of variety. It sounds like a clever way around my own rule until I realize I’m already trying to negotiate with a question I invented.

Apparently, I don’t like photographic restrictions very much.

Ordinary places, changing light

Then I start thinking about ordinary places.

That choice has more appeal than I might have expected. An ordinary place can change constantly even when nothing about the location itself seems particularly remarkable. Different light can alter it. Weather can alter it. Time certainly alters it. Even my own interest in the place can change from one visit to another.

You may have a subject like that yourself, something you could photograph repeatedly without feeling as though you had completely finished with it.

Still, would I really want to give up everything else?

What I would miss

That’s where the question becomes useful. I don’t think I’m actually trying to discover my one perfect photographic subject. I’m noticing what I would hate to lose.

Would I miss photographing people?

Architecture?

Small details?

Places I’ve never seen before?

Things close to home?

The occasional photograph that doesn’t fit neatly into any category at all?

Every choice seems reasonable until I imagine closing the door on the others.

The freedom to follow my attention

I suppose that says something about the way I’ve always approached photography. I like having the freedom to follow whatever catches my attention. Sometimes that means going somewhere with a specific purpose. Other times, the photograph I end up making has very little to do with what I thought I was going out to photograph.

There’s also a difference between what I admire and what I personally want to make. I can spend a long time looking at someone else’s photographs without having any desire to produce similar work myself. Appreciation doesn’t always have to turn into imitation.

That makes choosing one subject even more complicated.

If someone asked you the same question, your answer might come immediately. Maybe there’s one subject you know you could photograph indefinitely. Or perhaps you’d start doing exactly what I’m doing, looking for loopholes before you even finished answering.

I think the restriction itself is what makes the question entertaining.

Photography normally gives me choices. I decide where to point the camera, what stays outside the frame, when to press the shutter, and whether I want to continue working with a subject or walk away from it. Take nearly all of those possibilities off the table, and I suddenly become much more aware of how much variety I enjoy.