My photography library is neither complete nor is it extensive, but it is meaningful to me. While I have many books that are about photographers whose work interests me, my key focus is my collection of reference books. One book in my collection that was significant for me when it came out and still is, if Fred Picker’s 1974 Zone VI Workshop.
If you don’t have a copy I suggest you try to find one. In an age with the availability of Photoshop and digital cameras, and with seemingly good images so easy to obtain by the click of a button and the knowledge that if something is wrong one can easily “Photoshop it” and make it right, the idea of actually seeing an image before one makes a digital reproduction seems to be getting lost. I think there is a need to revisit the technical nitpickyness that was so prevalent in the age of the F/64 photographers of the early to middle part of the last century. Quoting their manifesto they state that they believe photography is an art form, but they only accepted what they considered “pure photography,” and by this they mean that they reject ideas, ideals, or processes, or “techniques derivative of any art form” (Easy access to the thinking of this group is found in Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia).
Picker Zone VI methodology enables the serious photographer to get a sense of the roots of photography. in the overleaf of his book jacked he states, “A sloppy performance of a photograph is as distressing as a sloppy performance of music. the importance of technical excellence is probably the only area where there is unanimity of opinion among photographers.”
In any case this book not only stays on my shelf but it stays within my reach. The Zone VI Workshop is an excellent book from which to learn the Zone System placement system. Many of the techniques of which Picker writes, are adaptable to using digital imagery. However, the absolutely most important notion to take away from The Zone VI Workshop is the necessity for chasing excellence in our photographic work! This cannot be stressed enough!
Learning to “see,” I mean really see is truly hard to do. There are so many small things we tend to miss in an image, especially when we have what appears to be a mind-boggling scene already. The grandeur and beauty many times blinds the photographer to the many small blemishes that removed would make for a truly incredible image. My suggestions are: read the books, and get some training by someone who can see well. Critique hurts, but it is necessary to learn to make images of excellence.