“You Don’t Take Pictures With Your Eyes, You Take Them With Your Heart.” – Adger Cowans.

Last week I went to the Schomberg Library on 138st and Lenox Avenue in New York City to see the exhibit on Gordon Parks, celebrating what would have been Parks’ 100th birthday. There to offer a lecture was Adger Cowans, pictured above, a photographer and friend of Parks and while I personal don’t know too much about his work (I do need to brush up on my art history – not particularly my most favorable subject) I was eager to hear a bit of wisdom from those who have been shooting pictures long before me.

What I learned from the lecture were two important questions  that I should always ask myself before every shot I take, in addition to the title of this article; “What is the emotion you are after in that picture?” and “Why take a picture that doesn’t work?” You have to feel the picture to make it happen.