Embracing Everyday Moments: Finding Beauty in the Mundane

Do you have to like the subjects you photograph?

Recently I have seen several YouTube videos which have discussed this question.

I think makes for an interesting discussion and it has caused me to pause and think about my own response to the question.

In my photography I have been naturally drawn to beauty in the subjects I photograph. I love to capture light and shadow, reflections, colour, contrast, examples of the wonder of nature and interesting elements of the human and natural world.

I will spend time patiently waiting for a bee to settle in a good position on a flower (they seldom do!) or go out after a rain shower in search of raindrops on an interesting surface.

I love to find a scene or object that tells a story, even when there is no human presence.

I like to depict emotion through my images and hope to evoke emotions in those who view them.

There are many aspects of daily life which draw my eye and prompt me to make an image.

That being said, I have also been drawn to finding and showing examples of beauty in the mundane or finding hidden gems, often in unusual places, and sometimes these are things that would not be considered to be beautiful in the conventional sense.

I sometimes ask myself –

Do photography subjects have to be beautiful?

Do we have to like the subjects we photograph?

Should we take photographs of the reality we see around us, the less beautiful places and subjects, as well as showcasing beauty?

In this context I’m not talking about leaving a piece of litter in an image because it’s reality or refusing to eliminate distractions from our frame because the image will be less realistic without them.

I am talking about photographing subjects that are not intrinsically beautiful or appealing to the eye. I'm talking about subjects that we walk past every day without giving them a second glance because they don’t immediately look attractive.

As I progress in photography, I am beginning to realise that everything is valid as a subject in photography and that we don’t always have to like what we photograph.

In fact, the subjects we don’t like may teach us more about photography than the subjects we like or that we are normally drawn to.

Taking photographs of subjects that we are not immediately drawn to can:

(a)  Take us out of our comfort zone and force us to work harder for an image.

(b)  Improve our creativity as we work a scene that is unfamiliar to us or edit our subject in an interesting way.

(c)  Provide more photographic opportunities as we find ourselves making more images in places we may previously have bypassed.

(d)  Improve our observational skills as we look for interesting features in what may be less ‘photogenic’ subjects.

I tested out this theory recently as I took a walk around my local area. I paused at an area where there were some temporary buildings and sheds. There was nothing beautiful about the subjects, but I decided to take some phone images that I would not previously have considered taking.

I think that this experiment took me out of my comfort zone, improved my observational skills and creativity, and increased my potential photographic opportunities.  I later spent some time editing the images in an attempt to enhance the beauty of what were ordinary, mundane subjects.

Here are some of the images.

The images were all taken on the Pixel 9 Pro using both the native phone app and the Open Camera app, which I have recently been experimenting with.

Edits were done on my phone using Snapseed.

Although these subjects are not intrinsically beautiful, I believe that they show that we can make images almost anywhere; in places where we would not usually find images and with subjects that we would normally bypass when looking for potential photographs.

Why not experiment with subjects or places that you would not normally consider for photography?