The Visual Toolbox: 60 Lessons for Stronger Photographs

Lesson 60. Study the Masters

We all stand, consciously or not, on the shoulders of giants. Men and woman have gone before us, experimenting, creating the so-called rules we will go on to break, and earning our reverence or criticism, probably caring about neither if they’re still among us. But whatever we feel about their work, whether we love it or are indifferent to it, we can learn a great deal from it. After all the words in this book, I still maintain that the best way to learn photography is to make a great many photographs and to look at—and study—a great many photographs. To find for ourselves what we love and what we don’t—and how others have achieved what they have. The beauty of course is that it’s all there to learn. There are no ...