Perception & Role-Playing Matters

By Lauren Kopsick

During the pandemic I started to figure it out. The secret. To taking a photograph. Its been a private frustration of mine for years. I can draw and paint and have been in a creative or training roles 1/2 my life. But I can’t take a good picture.

It turns out it had nothing to do with needing to take a professional or any photography class. It had everything to do with changing my perception.

I've always believed The key to success in anything is to imagine yourself in the actual event or situation. It’s called role-playing.

Role-playing can come in many formats. It’s used to prepare for job interviews. You use it to shop your competition. You use it to teach others a skill-set or to teach a child to go ‘potty ‘ on the toilet. It is 100% used prior to asking for ones hand in marriage!

They say the lens should be your eyes but I never understood what that meant. It means just what is said. When you are looking at something, your eyes decide what it’s focused on. So when taking a picture you need to make sure the lens is focused and sees exactly what you see if you take your eyes away from the camera.

For example, I've always looked at a magazine photograph and thought “I feel like I’m right there in the scene”. Yet Mine looked like my iPhone opened accidentally and took a pic of the ground.

It’s actually a lot of fun! Try it! Look at something. Figure out what do you see clearest. What is least clear. Look at the shadows. Where the light is hitting. Where are you standing. Where is the sun? then you go back to your camera and move around until you can get that same feeling from the camera that your eye sees. Just like role-playing it takes practice and you don’t always win nor are you supposed to. Enjoy the beauty in the meantime. There’s a sunrise and sunset and moonrise every day.