Edition Sixty Seven
The devil is in the details.
Photographers tend to notice details.
The shutter speed dial on top of your camera. The line of fine teeth on the edge of an electric beard trimmer. Or the signs in the shopping mall adorning every space where one can advertise. Color draws your eye. Details matter quite a lot. Think about a scene from your favorite crime drama:
“Even the smallest detail will help with the investigation”
To find details we have to investigate a scene. Look for something which sets the frame apart from the next one. Can the composition work when I focus on this? Will the lighting be better in this spot or next to the door?
These questions start to surface when we look at the details.
Starting conversations helps if you focus on details.
Upon seeing a sports jersey one could say “How did your team play this weekend?” which (in my experience) is bound to lead to discussion about a variety of things. Start at sports and end up at the latest news of the day.
The single color in an apartment window turns into a project about the complex. A photo prompt turns into a community event. Examining details tend to lead to bigger discoveries.
Looking for details within other images and the photos of other photographers is a great source of inspiration for me. It boosts creativity - looking for a specific item or thing within a photo can make your next set of photos branch off into a different direction. Or even a different genre. And details tend to tell you about the person taking the photos.
It helps me to tell stories and my photography is tied in with telling stories.
The glasses? The bed shop in the background? The warning cone telling you not to slip on the wet floor? Going through this image (or others) and looking for details stimulates your eye.
If you look close enough did you see Lewis Hamilton in the photo above?
In closing
Details matter.
It can set your work apart. It can be something which draw a particular audience to your work. Focusing on details can make your images stand out.
And even if you just take photos for the joy of it, details are still worth investigating.
Thanks for reading : )
P.S
2025 has been no different from all the years before it. Difficulties, sadness, happiness, success, etc. How you react to these things, what you take away from them is what makes you either become a different person or keeps you stuck in place.
To every subscriber who follows my publication, to everyone in the Notes, in the feeds, sharing the photos and making Substack and photography an interesting place to be - thank you : )
Wishing you a great 2026.
Great stuff, Richard. It’s true, this last year and every year before and after it is gonna have both terrible and amazing things happen. If we pay attention, do what we can, document, and grow from it all, we’ll all individually do all right I think.
I think I spot Hamilton behind the window near the center?