The Heart of the Photograph: 100 Questions for Making Stronger, More Expressive Photographs

by David duChemin

Learn to ask better, more helpful questions of your work so that you can create stronger and more powerful photographs. Photographers often look at an image—one they’ve either already created or are in the process of making—and ask themselves a simple “Is this a good photograph?” It’s an understandable question, but it’s really not very helpful. How are you supposed to answer that? What does “good” even mean? Is it the same for everyone? What if you were equipped to ask better, more constructive questions of your work so that you could think more intentionally and creatively, and in doing so, bring more specific action and vision to the act of creating photographs? What if asking stronger questions allowed you to establish a more effective approach to your image-making? In The Heart of the 100 Questions for Making Stronger, More Expressive Photographs , photographer and author David duChemin helps you learn to ask better questions of your work in order to craft more successful photographs—photographs that express and connect, photographs that are strong and, above all, photographs that are truly yours. From the big-picture questions—What do I want this image to accomplish?—to the more detail-oriented questions that help you get there—What is the light doing? Where do the lines lead? What can I do about it?—David walks you through his thought process so that you can establish your own. Along the way, he discusses the building blocks from which compelling photographs are made, such as gesture, balance, scale, contrast, perspective, story, memory, symbolism, and much more. The Heart of the Photograph is not a theoretical book. It is a practical and useful book that equips you to think more intentionally as a photographer and empowers you to ask more helpful questions of you and your work, so that you can produce images that are not only better than “good,” but as powerful and authentic as you hope them to be. TABLE OF CONTENTS
Better Questions

PART A GOOD PHOTOGRAPH?
Is It Good?
The Audience's Good
The Photographer's Good

PART BETTER THAN GOOD
Better Subjects

PART BETTER EXPRESSION
Exploration and Expression
What Is the Light Doing?
What Does Colour Contribute?
What Role Do the Lines and Shapes Play?
What's Your Point of View?
What Is the Quality of the Moment?
Where Is the Story?
Where Is the Contrast?
What About Balance and Tension?
What Is the Energy?
How Can I Use Space and Scale?
Can I Go Deeper?
What About the Frame?
Do the Elements Repeat?
Harmony
Can I Exclude More?
Where Does the Eye Go?
How Does It Feel?
Where's the Mystery?
Remember When?
Can I Use Symbols?
Am I Being Too Literal?

PART BETTER PHOTOGRAPHS
The Heart of the Photograph
Index

Genres: Photography, Art, Nonfiction

312 pages, Hardcover

Published March 17, 2020

About the author

David duChemin is a world & humanitarian photographer, best-selling author, and international workshop leader.

Reviews

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a du Chemin fan. He released me from being a photo-techie. I don't know a lot about photography but I do know what I like. I am attracted by what I feel and that is what I try to capture. This book was written for me.

[Janika · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm going to have to reread this intermittently, so many thoughts and ideas to play with, but it really gets to the heart of what photography should be about - what *YOU* want it to be.

[Ionut Trufin · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a book that doesn't give you a strict recipe for better images. Instead it points you along the way, with questions, so that you can make your own recipe. No rigid rules, no technical details. If you remember and consider at least some of those questions, when you make your next photo then you are on the right path. An you can also come back to the book for fresh inspiration into what to ask before taking the picture.

[Debra Schoenberger · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The power of a photograph to tell a story comes from its power to get the human imagination started". This is one of the author's quotes that I truly agree with.

The Heart of the Photograph is not really a how-to book but a guide to getting you to ask the right question when framing a photograph. Questions such as: "Where is the story?", "Can I exclude more?" and "Where's the mystery?" are a few of the many we need to ask ourselves to come up with something that is memorable. One of the most important things to remember as a photographer is: You are your own first and most important audience. How do we find our own voice?

As a documentary photographer, it's rare to find a photograph that captures my attention for more than a few seconds. What techniques can we adopt to make our own photographs stronger, captivating or imaginative?

Although you will find a fair amount of text in this book, it is broken up into small sections, along with some stunning photographs the author uses to demonstrate the point he is trying to get across.

If you are passionate about photography, put down your camera and ask yourself the right questions. The Heart of the Photograph is a thought-provoking guide intended to stimulate your imagination and encourage you to find your own voice.

[alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great resource

This book will be one that I go back to over and over. It asks a series of questions that I will try to answer when I make my photographs for myself. I did not always see the connections that the example photos were to provide but it may be I just need to go back and re-examine them after reading the whole book.

[Maciek Gil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Polecanko dla fotografów v2

[Piers Blackett · Rating 5 out of 5]

This expertly designed book and presentation of works of art by a renowned photographer and teacher approaches photography as an art in a unique and inspirational style. Ways to take better pictures are addressed in each of the four parts by posing essential questions that are the essence of progress and striving to find a point of view. He makes an argument for the need to convey a message and tell the viewer what the photo is about in the way Canadians think about things, and making a sound case for the concept being at the “heart of the photograph”. The author’s own photos in monochrome, arranged in topics to match the text, are masterpieces of expression and demonstrations of “story” and composition using wide-angle lenses. The final encouraging message for the reader supports the author’s dedication to supportive and inspirational teaching.

[Christine Duncan · Rating 5 out of 5]

David has done it again! Like his last book "The Soul of the Camera" he is able to bring into focus (groan, sorry for the pun) the things we struggle and wrestle with when we want to make art that resonates with ourselves and then others. He poses a series of questions that go past the surface noise and act as a beacon for clearer vision, better inspiration, and more solid growth.
I never fail to walk away from one of duChemin's books feeling challenged and given a creative boost. Am re-reading now as a part of my new year's creative "kick-in-the-pants".
If you love photography, you need this book. I can't say it enough.

[Kelsey Danahy · Rating 3 out of 5]

An excellent resource for those who are newer to the field of photography.

I wish I would've had access to a book like this years ago when I was still learning to find my voice as a photographer. If you have a clear vision of your mission as an artist and a solid sense of identity as a photographer, you might not get much out of the text component. That being said, duChemin's work is incredibly powerful and looking through the selection of his images was a masterclass in itself.

[Tim Day · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a hobby photographer, it was great to read a book that didn’t spend oodles of time talking about gear. The most important feature of any camera is ‘you.’

Great read that gets to the ‘heart’ of making a picture.

[Judy Hancock · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably the best book I've ever read on how to make really outstanding photographs.

[han · Rating 5 out of 5]

mega cenna ksiazka, duzo informacji i inspiracji, instruktaż tego jak sie poruszać w świecie fotografii, o czym myśleć, czego nie robić, ale wszystko bardzo delikatnie bo temat jest dość subiektywny i autor sie na tym skupia. Widać lata doświadczenia. Bardzo fajnie. Forma troche dziwna bo taka konstrukcja powtarzająca się, pewnie lepiej by sie czytało po jedyn rozdziale np, wieczorem + robić ćwiczenia dla nabrania poczcia. Jako że czytałam tak o to bylo troche dziwne, ale nie uwazam zeby bylo to wadą ksiazki, rozdzialy po prostu raczej stanowią oddzielne dzieła i są dopełnione.