GEORGY ROSOV: SECRETS ABOUT PHOTO-TECHNOLOGY FROM A NEW BOOK, EXPERIENCE AND THE WAY OF A PHOTOGRAPH
Are you curious about how reputable photographers go their way? What do they think about the modern photo equipment market, and what is their approach to choosing photographic equipment for everyday use? In this interview, the readers of our site will share the secrets of their experience.
Georgy Rozov, an authoritative Moscow photographer and journalist, popularizer of knowledge about photography, author of numerous publications in photo magazines, teacher. Most recently, his third tutorial on photography in the series “How to Shoot” – “How to Shoot. What can your camera do? Among modern authors of books on photography, George distinguishes himself with his vast experience as a photographer in a variety of genres. He shot well-known political and public figures, aluminum plants SUAL, coal mines of Donbass, the largest metallurgical plants and geological enterprises in Russia and the near abroad, diamonds from De Beers, Swiss watch factories and much more. Photos of urban landscapes and genre scenes of George Rozov are used for advertising publications, design of exhibition stands and interiors.
What are the problems of a modern photographer why you have already written the third textbook on photography? When I sat down to write the first book about photography, I understood quite clearly – it’s time to start a teaching career. Every individual who earns something as ephemeral as the creation of music, paintings, movies and photographs, too, sooner or later accumulates a baggage of knowledge and skills, similar to the hump of a camel. It can not be thrown back, can not be burned in the desert for three weeks of fasting. The hump is a useful but heavy burden: it prevents you from enjoying fresh impressions, from the process of cognition. I increasingly began to visit the idea that I had already shot it, had seen it, and it had been taken down by someone before me, and yes even brilliantly! And I found for myself a way to get rid of the heavy burden – began to unload the contents of the hump in the computer files. By the way, the first book was initially written on paper, the numbers have not yet been. In the process of working on it, I mastered the figure. It was then that I understood the idea that the teacher was studying with the students. Any chapter of the educational book should be set out so that it can be digested. Even very complex information needs to be told simply. If a person with a secondary education does not understand the teacher, this can only mean one thing – the teacher himself has not mastered his subject deeply and hides incompetence in the laces of foreign, or pseudoscientific vocabulary.
On the other hand, it was worthwhile only to try to describe, for example, the device of the lens, as I understood that I could not do this until I figured out the intricacies myself. Digging deep, I began to understand and learned to explain to others what unknowingly was happening in me in the process of work, during the shooting. A new book is born when new impressions, knowledge and, above all, good pictures accumulate. The hardest thing for any author of a textbook is to get illustrations. Buying is expensive. Book fees are so ridiculous that I am ashamed to even talk about them. If I could not illustrate books with my own photographs, I would give up the idea of writing them. Pictures in the textbook should be a kind of focus that one wants to master in order to entertain the audience. I am happy to describe stories and ways to get all the photos. I have nothing to hide. I know for sure that in a year or two my hump will be filled with two hundred, three hundred new photos and the same stories. They will again try to become a new book.
The person who just bought the first SLR camera is usually advised to read the instructions for it. How practical is this advice, and what should the instructions read first? Read the instructions – the advice is self-evident. Any normal buyer, even a new iron will not be included in the network until it reads the instructions. But the camera is a complicated, expensive tool, with a lot of buttons, each of which is not just there for decoration. I am sure that all camera buyers read their instructions … before the quick start page. There it is usually written how the automatic program mode is turned on, the battery is charging, pictures are viewed. At this, most camera owners lose their patience and rush to shoot masterpieces. And it does the right thing: it is this information that allows you to receive quite decent pictures for family consumption and for sharing on the network. Likes from friends – the highest degree of encouragement for such amateurs. Those who want to learn how to shoot seriously, will have to learn differently. Instruction is only the first step to be overcome. And, unfortunately, very cool. There are many pages written by smart people who know their business well, but are not familiar with the basics of popularization.
