Chapter 1. A way of seeing

This chapter is basically an introduction of the photography and camera as well as the basics about how to study photography and acquire necessary skills. I have never thought about some of the suggestions in this chapter, and I find them quite useful; for example,

• As in any other graphic art, you will need a considerable amount of visual reference material (p.30)
• I urge you to look for and collect reproductions of what we could call classic photographs (p.31)
• From right now, begin collecting objects that you find interesting (and also manageable in size) (p.31)
• As well as objects, look for and collect backgrounds: cloths, paper card, plastics, pieces of leather, stone, and an old chopping board ... (p.31)

The author also recommends critically looking at the photographs that professional photographers have taken in terms of the choice of subjects, composition, use of colour, lighting, etc. In addition, the author suggests that I should keep all of my own photographs with notes regarding the subject, technical details, etc. in a notebook, so that I can see my own progress later.

I have heard some people say these things are very important, but I have never actually done, so I think this is a very good opportunity for me to actually start trying them. Since I am using a digital camera, I should do this digitally, probably in this blog.

The other part of the chapter is mainly devoted to a short explanation of cameras (both film and digital), accessories, films, the way of viewing photographs (both film and digital) and lenses.