Some of What I've Learned About & From Photography

by Charlotte Lowrie

• Always take the scenic route.

• A picture doesn't have to be perfect--it just has to "work."

• Writing a book is hard work.

• Writing a book takes a long time.

• The best part of writing a book is finishing it.

• I'd rather be shooting than cleaning up images in Photoshop.

• Shooting a wedding is hard work.

• There is beauty in every person I photograph. Usually, they don't realize it, and the beauty must be gently coaxed out of them.

• Photo sequences are more fun to shoot and look at than single images.

• There isn't enough time in life to make all the pictures that I want to make.

• I steadfastly refuse, still, to learn about guide numbers.

• Designing a photo may begin with rules, but it ends with instinct and intuition.

• Listening is as important as seeing.

• Dream in pictures.

• Think in pictures.

• Real people don't smile all the time.

• I'd rather take pictures of real people.

• My best non-portrait pictures are those that mean something to me.

• Make every piece of gear pay for itself before the next round of PMA product announcements make it obsolete.

• Light the background separately from the subject.

• To photograph life on the street, you have to spend time, a lot of time, on the street.

• Listen to the voices--the ones inside your head, the ones from the heart.

• Words are better with pictures.

• Pictures are better with words.

• Whether writing or making pictures, remember to keep it clean & keep it simple.