Sunsets, faces, and cars are objects. Longing, tension, and stillness are subjects. Here’s the one word test that reveals whether your photo is actually about something.
I’ve spent a lot of time lately looking at my own archives, and I noticed something that used to drive me crazy. I’d look at a frame I loved and ask myself, “What is the subject here?” If I couldn’t point to a clear thing, a person, a car, a specific building. I felt like the photo was a failure.
But I was wrong. I was confusing the Object with the Subject.
The Object is the noun. It’s the physical stuff that was standing in front of your lens. The Subject, however, is the verb or the adjective. It’s the reason you pressed the shutter in the first place.
Why Photographers Get Lost
The “Content” machine we talked about last week rewards the Object. It wants “A Sunset,” “A Pretty Girl,” or “A Fast Car.” These are easy to categorize, easy to tag, and easy to “consume.” They are commodities.
But a clear Subject requires the photographer to make a choice. If you are shooting a portrait, is your subject the person’s face? Or is it the exhaustion in their eyes? If it’s the exhaustion, then the face is just the medium you’re using to talk about it. When we focus only on the object, we are just technicians. When we focus on the subject, we become storytellers.
The “One Word” Test
I started playing a game with my edits to help me find that focus. If I can’t describe the photo in one word without using the name of the thing in the photo then I haven’t found the subject yet.
If I’m shooting a skyscraper, the object is Concrete. But the subject? Maybe it’s Arrogance. Or Order.
If I’m shooting a stranger on the street, the object is A Commuter. But the subject? It’s Solitude.
In black and white, this is our superpower. We strip away the “what” (color) to get to the “how” (light and shadow). When you stop shooting “things” and start shooting “feelings,” your portfolio stops looking like a catalog of objects and starts looking like a diary of experiences.
Next time you’re out, ask yourself: Am I just taking a picture of what’s in front of me, or am I capturing what it feels like to be here?